


fast cars and money heists

by irrelevanttous, tragicallywicked



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Angst and Porn, Cowboy Jasper, F/M, In which Alice is not bubbly and loud, Jasper is troubled ex soldier FBI guy, She's a badass white collar criminal, alternative universe, and some romance too, and steals from casinos, bossy Alice, no vampires here, not your cute vampire story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:53:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26590957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrelevanttous/pseuds/irrelevanttous, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tragicallywicked/pseuds/tragicallywicked
Summary: Alice Cullen isn't exactly what one would expect of such a small looking woman. Always speeding through the streets of Los Angeles and strolling down in Las Vegas's casinos, she hides a lot more behind the designer clothes and daddy's credit card. The boredom of her wealth and extreme intelligence lead her to seek rush and adrenaline into heisting casinos and frauding stock markets; no wonder the FBI caught up to her. Jasper Whitlock is the agent assigned to investigate and arrest the woman before her schemes can go any further and turn her into a more significant government threat. But Jasper wasn't expecting to fall under her spell and letting her escape could make her disappear from his life completely. He'll have to make a difficult choice to serve his country or let her vanish for good.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale
Comments: 41
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SalmonCenter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalmonCenter/gifts).



> So let's begin by thanking irrelevanttous and SalmonCenter for making me do this and giving me so many ideas when the story actually got stuck in my mind. This was an amazingly fun conversation and brainstorm at the Jalice discord server that actually turned into a creative and awesome piece, that's why I love this fandom so much. So thanks, you two! This one is for you.
> 
> This story is very different from the usual Jalice romance story, but I'm sure you'll find it exciting and new to read as I'm finding to write it. You're still going to find cowboy Jasper (which is a biiiig mood here) and bossy Alice around the fic, and height difference. That's major in Jalice life, y'all. So, without further ado, good reading!

There was something almost cultural about fast cars belonging to a tall, handsome, big balled man. When you look at a Porsche 911 Turbo S, speeding the streets of Las Vegas, you don't immediately think a woman is going to step out of it, let alone a 4'10" lady with incredibly good taste in clothes. That miscalculation was precisely what Alice Cullen loved about driving one of those. Ferraris, Volvos, Audis, Mercedes, Porsches... She loved them all and the impact it brought on people when she stepped out of those. The yellow Porsche held a special place in her heart, though. It had been the very first one Alice bought herself, a car she had always wanted to have.

Her family was a wealthy Los Angeles family. Her mother, Esme, was a well-known costume designer for big movies. Although they were off the direct spotlight, it made them acquire a considerable fortune. That, along with Carlisle's plastic surgery office downtown, was a money pot. But Alice cared very little for her parents status or capital.

She grew up among big movie stars. Always on the most impressive sets watching her mother design and sew breathtaking pieces that granted her awards of all kinds. But Alice also learned about greed, deception, and people who would do just anything to be someone in that city. And she wanted no part of that.

It wasn't that she considered herself a saint or did all the right things there were. In fact, it was very much the opposite of that. She told herself she was really fighting the right battles, but Alice was fully aware her ways didn't justify the means. She fancied it anyways. It was a newfound way to be a star.

Her business line would often require something more aimless and not so flashy like a yellow Porsche and revealing dresses. But that was the thing about her also, Alice  _ always _ made an impression. Turning heads and drawing attention was the very reason Alice opted to wear the dress that night. 

The onyx material adorned her figure skin-tightly, with a large fend traveling from her feet up to the left thigh. The dress had a V insertion on her bust that opened all the way down to the sternum; it was a lot tighter than the skirt. Practically feeling as if the soft black lace had been glued to her skin.

Alice was never the big boobs, big ass kind of woman, and although she did have the body of a runway model, she most certainly didn't have their height. But Louboutins had always been her best friend. Alice had a whole wall of the heels in all shapes and colors. But these simple black ones with the red soles matched her  _ dressed to kill _ outfit perfectly. There was nothing delicate about her look, but it was absurdly sexy and refined. That was what she was looking for tonight.

The Four Seasons was a scrumptious hotel, highly guarded and continuously under the watchful eyes on cameras. It screamed money and not new money. It was a place for people who had wealth as their heritage. That only made all the more exciting for Alice. She dropped her car off at the valet and went to check-in, where piles of foreigner and local tourists gathered.

Alice passed the regular check-in to the VIP section, where only two men stood waiting to be seen. She didn't get a glimpse on their faces as one kept looking straight and the other was strangely dressed with a cowboy hat on.

_ So out of style _ , Alice scoffed mentally and thanked inwardly when they moved forward. Immediately after, she was also brought to check-in with the next attendant. She was a regular in Vegas, and even more at the Four Seasons, it was one she hadn't bled dry—yet. They treated her like a goddess over there, mostly because she always brought in the big bucks. Alice relished on luxury, the authentic kind. Her room was always one of the highest marked, and her room service was never bellow a few thousand dollars. Alice tipped high, too; she knew the staff could benefit a lot more from it, and so did she. A well-tipped team was a discrete one.

"Staying all weekend, Ms. Brandon?" Although her last name was Cullen, Alice preferred to keep her family out of her business. It was all the more discrete that way.

"Yes, thank you, Cynthia." She told the concierge woman whom Alice had crossed paths often at the hotel.

"Any bags?"

"You know it already." Alice mused.

"Ah, course! Redoing the wardrobe." Cynthia nodded, typing down something on the computer. "Would you like us to send you some catalog options to your room?"

"That would be lovely. Burberry, Chanel, Prada, Manolos, you know my regulars." That was something she could truly appreciate about luxury hotels; they would do about just anything to satisfy their clients. "Would you please also put my credit card down on the betting cashier system? I would like to get started with the weekend already."

"Absolutely!" The woman took the black American Express Centurion card from Alice and gave it back in the next moment. "All set, Ms. Brandon. We'll have some bags be sent up as well for your choice, while you enjoy the casino."

"Thank you, dear." She took the card whilst passing on a hundred bill to the woman. She turned around to leave and didn't look back.

There was a newfound pair of eyes watching her closely now.

* * *

Jasper Whitlock first joined the FBI forces five years ago when he retired as a veteran. The Federal Bureau tracked him down thanks to his skills on the field and extreme knowledge of people. He was credited to lead the army in several operations that required meticulous intel and personal handling, something Jasper always did so splendidly. It was a skill the FBI could genuinely benefit from. Jasper hated being on the sidelines, as he found after returning home from overseas. So he accepted the retirement from the army and embraced the new adventure.

He was an agent well-known for being often sent out in undercover details because he could easily blend in and mingle. That's why he was given the Brandon operation six months ago.

They had been tracking down Alice Cullen for over a year. Still, Jasper was only brought in halfway through the investigation. Alice went by the codename Mary Alice Brandon to avoid being found connected to her family. She wasn't exactly their typical target. Daughter of two Hollywood figures, one in the movie industry and the other on the plastic surgery business, Alice had money, status, and anything a girl could ask for. But she was her own woman. The large income not tracking back to her parents started alerting their eyes, and they were digging evidence on her.

It wasn't just any money as casinos and the stock market were always involved. They were keeping their eyes on Alice until the time was proper and now was that time. They were tipped by a staff member in a casino in Las Vegas that she would be making an appearance.

From Jasper's experience with people like her, they knew just how fast she could disappear if she as much as suspected the FBI was on to her. They had to act now, but it wasn't always easy to pass a demand as pressing like that. They couldn't just show up to her and arrest her; it was a process. They needed concrete proof because, with her money, Alice could pay prominent lawyers to get her off the hook. Anything that unfolded a flawed operation would be considered persecution. They would lose  _ any chance  _ of actually getting her behind bars. So they needed a good plan, a trap, and evidence.

"It's a good plan." Jasper's boss told him, overlooking the folders he had been handled earlier that week.

"She's checking in tomorrow, if we want to catch up to her, we gotta get that funding." A New York to Las Vegas layover wasn't exactly ideal, but their biggest problem wasn't that. "We need your avail to the funding."

"It's too high, Whitlock. We're going to be injecting government money straight into a Vegas casino." He shook his head, as pressing as getting that woman was, there was no freaking way it would be easy to get that operation authorized. "Plus, we're not even sure we're gonna get her. We might as well be helping her pocket more if she's stealing from there as well."

"I have an informant on the inside." James had entered this operation way before Jasper, and his tracking skills aided them extensively during the investigations. But there was something about James that Jasper didn't like all that much. They weren't fond of each other, but they were  _ civilized _ . "Maybe they can arrange something for us there."

"Us?" Jasper eyed him.

"You're surely not going on your own, Jasper." Laurent, their boss, said with a scoff. "That would help cut down the hotel expenses."

"We have to blend in with her. In her world." Jasper insisted. "If we want to trap her, it's not like she's going to go with the two guys who clearly rent a place in the Bronx. We're talking LA money here, her house is worth more than our yearly salaries combined." And he knew that for a fact because he had made the math.

Laurent blew out defeatedly. "I'll figure out. Have Victoria book your flights for tonight, now out of here." He tossed the file, and Jasper was up in a heartbeat.

"Thank you, sir." He didn't wait for James to follow, but he halted when Laurent called his name.

"If you wanna blend in, Whitlock, you might need to lose the boots."

It was a common joke in the office how Jasper's choice for cowboy boots totally did  _ not _ fit the FBI part, but he was proudly Texan, so what else was left to do?

"We'll see about that, sir."

There they were, nearly twenty-four hours later, waiting in the Four Seasons' VIP line. James had managed with his informant to get them booked on a decent suit for the weekend. Luckily would give them enough time to trap the con artist. Jasper was definitely out of his element among people that bled hundred dollar bills at every turn, wearing his southern boots and hat.

"Terrible choice, man," James commented while they waited. "Thought Laurent told you to lose the boots, you went and added a hat." Jasper laughed amusedly at his roll of eyes.

"Don't you know rich people are eccentric?" He chuckled, his southern accent heavier than ever.

As they were called to the counter, and James dealt with their stay details, Jasper kept his eyes alert on the lobby. Many tourists gathered around, took pictures. Others mingled and fled to the casino area. Jasper caught up on the conversation next to them, and he couldn't believe their luck when the name  _ Brandon _ came from the attendant.

Being the excellent agent he was, Jasper didn't look over immediately. Instead, he kept his eyes on the lobby, ears alert on the women chatting next to him. When Jasper saw her exiting to the casino, his eyes looked at the woman behind the counter. He read the name  _ Cynthia _ on her tag and noticed she was younger than most behind the counters. She was probably new there.

"Excuse me, can I ask you something?" Casually, he gave her his best side smile. Flirting was sometimes part of the job.

"Oh, yes, sir. How may I help you?" She blinked, slightly taken by his charm.

"I overhead ya saying to the lady here that you send catalogs up to the room?" He couldn't really show straight forward interest on the woman herself. Alternatively, he decided to investigate her routine in the hotel.

"Oh yes, anything you want, sir. She asks for catalogs because it's the easiest way for us to know what clothing we should bring to her room." She explained, then added, "But anything you wish for, room service will arrange for you, and we'll place it straight to your bill."

_ Rich people really knew how to live _ , Jasper thought to himself.

"Lovely. It's my first time in Vegas, so it's good to know." The attendant nodded and was about to resume her work when Jasper continued. "What do you recommend for doing around?"

"The hotel has everything you need, of course. We can arrange your sightseeing, book tickets for shows, and make reservations to restaurants and nightclubs, in and out of the premises." She grabbed a flyer and circled two numbers. "In any of these numbers, we can get you settled."

"Wonderful! What about the casino? We don't have that many back in New York." He said casually.

"We have a vast selection of machines and tables on the premises, and if you're looking for higher betting, the section is to the far left of the casino. It'll be a private area that you'll need to present your room key." She approached her coworker, checking in him and James and verified the status on the computer. "Your room has clearance to the area. You will be able to have access to it, sir."

"Thank you  _ very _ much, Cynthia." He smiled at her warmly, and the blush was clear across her cheeks.

"We're here for anything you need. Welcome to the Four Seasons."

As the keys were handed to each of them, the men took off to the room. The bags were already on their way to the suite, and now they needed to organize their plan.

* * *

Alice was winning, as per usual. She took a few spins at the roulette to get herself in the mood before she moved to the poker table. Her goal tonight wasn't to take anything from the casino, so she was legitimately playing clean. Her target was a stock market guy that was going to meet her there. Jacob Black was her informant for more than three years now. She had met him through Isabella Swan, who was from a well-known mobster family. They had their hands deep in the gambling business outside of Las Vegas. Bella was from the new generation who saw befriending people like Alice could only benefit them, and it did. She kept her dirty schemes away from their facilities and helped bankrupt their competitors. The Black kid was a sort of genius, knew all sorts of things, from motorcycles to the stock market.

They met in one of the Swan's luxurious parties and had been partnering up for business since. He gave Alice the intel she needed, and she gave him fifteen percent of her cut. It was a large cut, undoubtedly, but Alice preferred he gave the information to her only and exclusivity cost high.

Laying out yet another full-house, Alice collected her prize in the hotel's card and made her way to the bar. Given the hour, Jacob would be here any minute.

Distractedly, she scrolled through the timeline on her Instagram when a tall figure took the seat beside her. Alice looked up, thinking it was Jacob at last but was surprised to find a blonde cowboy. The one that had been in front of her in line. She hadn't seen his face then, but the hat was indeed unforgettable.

"Lost your horse somewhere?" Alice played amusedly, ready to go back to her phone. She wasn't expecting the way his smile would make her stomach drop.

"Ya didn't happen to see any around, did ya?" He matched her teasing tone before ordering a scotch. "Can I get ya anything?"

Alice considered it for a moment. She could always use a drink, and the man would be easy to dismiss once Jacob arrived. Usually, Alice wouldn't hesitate grabbing a drink with a stranger, other times even more. But she was there for business. The blonde didn't look like her go-to man at all. She'd never go out with anyone dressed like that, it wasn't a full cowboy outfit, but it was still a cowboy hat inside a luxurious casino. It somehow  _ suited _ him. Alice couldn't really place  _ how _ or  _ why _ there was something so comfortable and inviting about the man.

"Cosmopolitan, please." She decided at last and the man ordered it for them.

"I didn't catch your name." He asked then.

"You won't be needing it, this is just a drink."

"Oh?"

Alice chuckled amusedly, "Ground rules."

"Very mysterious."

"Doesn't that make it all the more interesting?" She said suggestively as the drinks were served in front of them. Alice lifted her glass and smirked over her drink. "Cheers."

"Cheers." Jasper raised his glass and sipped on it. "What brings you to Vegas?"

"Give me your best guess."

"Mhm, gambling?" He laughed and something about it was so heartily that surprised Alice.

"Well, that too." She took another gulp of the drink and added, "I came to shop too."

"Don't all women?" Jasper joked, making Alice chuckle this time. He wasn't so bad after all, not half bad.

"Only the smart ones."

"Which I'm taking you are." Raising a brow at her, Jasper smirked again.

"You could say that." She sipped the cosmopolitan. "What about you?"

"I never visited, came with a friend to finally experience the Vegas life."

"Where from?"

"New York." She snorted at his answer. "What?"

"You definitely don't look New Yorker."

Jasper laughed, shaking his head. "Born and raised in Texas."

"Ah, there you go, that's more like it."

"What about you?"

"LA."

"Just a few hours out then." Alice nodded at him. "Must be a nice place."

"It is." She saw Jacob Black approaching them from over his shoulder and smiled warmly at the mysterious man. "Maybe I can tell you more about it another time, my date is here."

Jasper couldn't help but look disappointed she was skimming away already as he felt finally some progress was being made.

"I hope to see you around." He raised his glass for her.

"So do I." Alice finished the drink, putting back the glass back on the counter.

"Maybe next time you'll tell me your name."

"We'll see."

Jasper turned on the stool to watch her go. Before, he hadn't got such a great look at her. Alice was a breathtaking woman. She moved with impressive grace, the black dress accentuating every curve in her body. He had always viewed her as work, but then again, he had never got a glimpse of the woman. She dressed refinedly, but the contrast of her pale skin against the very few black lace covering her torso and back made her so attractive.

She was small; Jasper had read that much on the files. But moved as if she was a whole foot taller than everyone else. The heels seemed like part of her. It was incredibly sexy, Jasper decided. He always thought best to accept the facts to get past them and concentrate on the work. And he would have been able to do so if Alice hadn't, an inch from reaching her date, looked over her shoulder to find his eyes.

Right there and then, he should have known that he and this entire operation were doomed. But he overlooked it, absurdly lost in Alice's brief smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS.: If you wanna know about the Jalice server, hit me up! I can help you get there, it's an open active community where we do exactly what you're thinking: talk about Jalice all day. Cheers!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well! If you though I forgot about this, I have not. I've been trying to get ahead and leave some chapters ready to go as Jalice Week is coming up soon and I'll be doing a lot of writing for that. So bear with me as updated will be a little slower, but will for sure happen. On that note, thanks M for forcing me to actually go review chapters. Now, enjoy the read everyone!

Jacob Black was a young guy born and bred in a small city near Vegas. He had moved to the gambling center at just eighteen, running away from the troubles he had been causing there. At the time, Jacob was mixed with a few guys on the wrong front of the law and had been selling stolen motorcycle gears. That pissed off some pretty dangerous people, one of them being the town's sheriff—though Jacob suspected the policeman was more annoyed that Jacob had been hooking up with his daughter. His alternative was to stay and straighten up or disappear their sights. Vegas seemed like the right place to run to, and it didn't turn out bad at all.

He stayed in touch with his father every once in a while, would send out some money, but Jacob never stepped foot in Alamo again. Beginning a new life out of nothing hadn't been exactly smooth, but Jacob was street smart, and he knew to make friends of the right people. Bella Swan had been no exception.

At the time, Jacob was serving at her family's casino hotel as a valet. The Swan family was well known to be connected to the mafia. The way he got on the good side of their daughter, who was beginning rein the family affairs, was by helping her escape a shooting in front of the hotel. One of their nemesis hadn't been so fond of the Swan's activities in their area and resolved to retaliate. Bella was right in the middle of crossfire, but Jacob pushed her into one of the cars he was supposed to take in to the garage and fled her to security.

The family owed him a great deal, but he didn't want to accept any money as a reward. He wanted to be a part of their operations. Given what he had done for Bella, they couldn't ignore. There was still an extended trial period, as they wouldn't just let any random boy waltz into their family. But the Black kid had been examining them for long before it all went down. He knew how they worked, and it was easy for Jacob to simply fit in. He knew how to get around quickly, so he became of great service to Bella in her upcoming as a mobster leader. Now, at twenty-two, Jacob was Bella's right-hand guy for investments, security—and bikes.

He knew many people involved with the stock market and had an impressive knowledge of the subject. Back home, one of the kids in his little  _ pack _ was incredibly smart and taught Jacob how to get ahead with the big white-collar folks. Sam, the man, wasn't from Alamo, but he had been hiding there from his dark past. Jacob owed him a whole lot for those teachings, got him a headstart in Vegas, and a suitable position among the Swans. Their main business was casinos and hotels, but they liked to dig their claws in additional money every once in a while. They had a massive money laundry scheme going on, and it was simpler to pass it through other sources. Black was there for them. He had also grown close to Bella since the shooting; they were really good friends. He ran even personal details to organize her security personnel and attend to any private business Bella needed.

Alice Cullen was, in a sense, a private business of Bella.

The two women had met a few years back, in Los Angeles, and hit it off instantly. The rooftop party downtown was being hosted by Alice, who regularly threw parties to collect new  _ victims _ . She'd have her friends bring high investors, people with a lot of new money—because people with old money never really invested in brand new opportunities. She needed those impatient to cash out the big bucks into  _ possibilities _ because they wanted to show off new wealth or acquire a spot amid the authentic rich.

The entire Los Angeles county knew well that Alice wasn't a new rich. She had old Hollywood money in her veins, and not just that. Power came along with her surname. That type of magnetism wasn't just something a person could go ahead and buy. Her father's contacts and close friends were stars, and the awards her mother acquired along the years were golden statues of all kinds. They weren't Alice's, but they did come to excellent service to her—even if her parents had no clue of her activities. They believed the allowance Alice maintained and the downtown job in a law firm—that she didn't really have, were, in fact, what gave their daughter the means to buy luxurious cars of her own and throw LA's most massive parties. Like the one she and Bella met.

At the time, Alice had been aiming to bankrupt one of the Swan's casinos, and Bella saw right through her. Perhaps because the American-Italian girl grew up watching people trying to cheat her father—and fail badly. She could spot fake a mile away. Alice was struck at her wit—and that was something she could respect. They didn't go down smoothly, though. There was bickering for a few months. After some threats, they decided to join strengths instead. Bella couldn't lose with Alice rotting their competitors down and Alice could use the  _ protection _ the Swans granted. Black was part of that deal. His intel for Alice's schemes were essential. In the end, everybody won.

When Jacob called to let her know there was a significant investment she could do, Alice was instantly interested. There was some dirty money she had wanted to move along before it got traced back to her. That would be the ideal opportunity. Alice never really invested in her own name. That's when Jacob would come in.

The scheme was always well planned, and the FBI had been trying to figure it all out since. They knew exactly who Jacob Black was and had been investigating the guy since he first joined the Swan family after the shooting.

During the investigation, the FBI had to be involved, given the massive proportion the case took. Jacob's name came up on that list and never left it again, as they soon learned the Black boy had been  _ adopted _ by the Swans. What they did not know was that  _ he _ was always the missing link with Alice Cullen. When Jasper saw Jacob Black there, he found what they had been blindly searching from. So, if nothing turned out of this weekend, finding out about the guy was a  _ tremendous _ development to report.

After Alice disappeared into the hotel, James, who had been watching from afar, approached Jasper.

"Find anything interesting?" He asked.

"She left with Jacob Black, the Swan's right-hand man." Jasper sipped the last bits of his drink, smiling with excitement. "We knew she was connected with the Swans, but Black runs their investments in the stock market. He has to be Brandon's informant."

"Or they're just fucking." James scoffed, and that made Jasper roll his eyes, utterly annoyed. "Well, you never know."

"If they are, only makes him more likely to be giving her information." Jasper finished up the drink, placing a bill on the counter for the payment and the tip. "I'm going to go do some digging on that. You coming?"

"Gonna take a look around, see if I can find more on her with the staff." Jasper always knew he and James liked to work separately, but they were often forced together. He didn't mind running details and searches on his own. What worried him was the other way around. Jasper couldn't really tell whether James was hiding something or merely wanting a promotion that badly.

"Alright, don't do anything I wouldn't do." He played though, making the man chuckle.

"Catch up to you later." James nodded as Jasper took off.

* * *

Alice wasn't banging Jacob. It actually never had crossed her mind. Bella had once suggested that the guy was attractive, but he didn't really fit Alice's type. She had wondered then if there was more going on between Bella and Jacob, but apparently, he didn't fit her style either. Bella was simply trying to set him up with someone she trusted. Alice refused it without batting an eye.

"He's got nice abs and big brains, but he's too short for me." Alice had told Bella then, resulting in some interrogating looks from Alice. "I like the really tall ones, you know."

"You're like the shortest person I know." Bella retorted with sheer amusement.

"Exactly. It's really hot when they're towering over you."

"Sounds challenging." The two women could laugh at that.

Bella wouldn't know about those height kinks. She had been dating Edward Masen, a completely dull guy. So out of their gambling and mobster world, and for the longest time too. He wasn't much taller than her, though. The thing Alice suspect Bella liked about him was the  _ lack _ of involvement __ with the mafia. He knew of her family's history and their activities. He just didn't give it that much thought or importance.  _ As _ Alice would often mock him to Bella—and sometimes even to him, a  _ good Christian boy _ .

Edward lived up in San Francisco but would fly weekly to be with Bella. The plan was that they would get married as soon as the two of them were finished with college. He was studying to become a doctor and that had been only of the few things he and Alice ever talked about. She knew so much from her father, that they actually often carried subjects about it. Edward knew about her father's reputation and status. Still, he wasn't looking to become a plastic surgeon, so he didn't really get starstruck by the fact Alice was his daughter. That made her appreciate him a lot more. It was nice to find people that didn't want to befriend her to simply gain any sort of leverage. But then again, that was a very much Los Angeles behavior, and Edward was a typical San Francisco guy.

He hated cars, always preferred to walk or bike to places. He enjoyed picnics and not the rooftop party life. Often would prefer to sit at a cafe with a book than go on a wild weekend trip. It was insane he was dating the girl that would inherit half a dozen casinos in Las Vegas. Bella wasn't as crazy as she sounded, though—perhaps why she liked Edward so much. She was, as all Italians seemed to be, very family driven. So marriage was definitely on the books. People just didn't expect it so outside of their social circle.

Charlie, Bella's father, approved Edward and how loyal he was to Bella and their family. He would have preferred that she married the Black boy, if he was asked, or an Italian guy he appointed. But given that the Masen kid had shown extremely dedicated to his daughter, he wouldn't intervene—unless it became necessary.

More and more, it was clear that Charlie was stepping aside and letting his only child take the reigns of the family business. She had been doing splendid. The understanding with Alice Brandon wasn't really something Charlie would have tried. If he found out that she was trying to bankrupt them, before Bella, Alice would have quickly disappeared like many others that tried to get in their way did. But he acknowledged he probably wouldn't have seen Alice coming. These were new times and new rules, and Bella was aware of them. So he allowed her to find middle ground with Brandon, which was more than beneficial to them.

Alice moved big money around, so big she didn't honestly mind giving them a cut of those profits. As long as it was still profitable for everyone, they could live in so-called peace. Jacob appreciated the understandings because he got a cut of that too, from both parties. And he was all about his loyalty to the Swans, but he had to make a living.

That was what brought him to the Four Season's that evening. They took the elevator up to her room because it was always the safest place to discuss.

"That guy at the bar, your friend?" Jacob asked her, arms crossed as he leaned against the elevator wall.

"Never seen him before."

"Gotta be careful with those, Alice." He alerted as they stepped out into the room. Her penthouse at the hotel was divine. Two bedrooms, a living space with a hundred and eighty view of The Strip. It was a private elevator, too, that unlocked with her room key. "Especially when you don't really waste time showing off." He scoffed.

Jacob was low key most of the time. Sure, he had one of the only ten made of the Ecosse Spirit bikes, but he thought Alice was too over the top. The dresses, cars, hotel rooms, parties, all the shopping. Nothing was worst than the time she showed up with a lavender Lamborghini. It was like she was asking to be caught—the yellow Porsche didn't stay behind either.

"Didn't tell him my name, don't worry, I got ground rules." She laughed, tossing her purse to the sofa. She walked up to the bar that had been fully stocked to her liking. "What you having?"

"Vodka on the rocks." He told her, taking a seat on one of the lounging chairs. Jacob eyed the catalogs that were spread across the center table and laughed. "How many times are you going to use the renewing the closet excuse?" Jacob knew already that this was her constant way of  _ cleaning _ any dirty money that she came across.

"Until it runs out." She chuckled, coming up with a vodka shot to him and a whiskey for herself. "I also may wanna get a bike this time. I wanted to give my brother a gift."

"Big bear guy?" Jacob shouted, and she nodded. Alice took a seat across from Jacob, relaxing on the couch.

"Yep. Wanna get your recommendations for him." They clicked their cups in cheer, and each took a sip of their drinks.

"He's a pretty big guy, gonna need those massive ones so he won't look ridiculous," Jacob explained, thinking of some models at the top of his head. "A Dodge Tomahawk V10 or MV Agusta F4CC may be pretty good for him. I can hook you up with my guy."

"Can you actually take care of it for me? You can call me to tell how much it's gonna be, include your cut and all, and have the guy deliver it in LA." She asked, tasting the drink.

Jacob nodded, "You got it, Brandon." He took a swing of the vodka then before continuing. "So, the investor wants to close a transaction next week, think you can have it by then?"

"I'm just gonna need the details of where and when, that's all."

"It's an offshore company, we're going to need to run the transactions through some other banks abroad, so it doesn't trace back to here." Her eyes widened. "I know, only cash with you. I got that covered too."

"Do tell. Don't spare the details."

"My guy got the connections to do it through Brazil, he'll take the cash there." Jacob elaborated, watching as Alice raised him a brow.

"How do we know it's not gonna get held in customs? Definitely illegal to not declare that amount." She questioned, uncertain. Alice knew Jacob wouldn't put her in a faulty transaction, but she still liked to know what she was getting herself into. "This isn't a few thousand, Jacob."

"Will you chill, Brandon?" He scoffed with a chuckle. "My guy  _ is _ customs."

"You got some dirty little friends." Alice brought the glass to her lips, a smirk settled there, as she shook her head. She'd always known Jacob for getting around well, but that really impressed her. "So, I give you the money. He runs it through another country to the offshore. Then what?"

"The investor will double the amount in clean money, straight to a bank account with any name you pick."

"No bank accounts, Black. You know that already." She frowned annoyedly.

"Alright. Then you gotta give me the go-to and I'll do through my assets. Plus, trust me to give you the amount." There was a taunting tone that made Alice roll her eyes to her skull.

"Do it already. Can you get the money with me on Tuesday?"

"Consider it done."

* * *

With the deal settled, Alice had the weekend to pick a casino to run her own plots. She had the amount accorded with Jacob, but Alice did it for the fun and the thrill. That was how the woman functioned, after all, moving and increasing money every chance she could. Honestly, Alice felt sometimes like she ran a more significant asset than Bank of America, and she fucking loved it.

Alice was in it for pleasure this weekend, feeling damn good about the deal she was about to close with Jacob. After he was gone, she marked some items in the catalogs and left her room again to find a party to attend later.

By the front desk, she got details of today's events in Vegas and let them know her selections were all made and ready to be sent to her room.

"I'll make sure they're there for you when you return, Miss Brandon." One attendant told her as they also added that her car would be ready outside in just a moment.

Much to her surprise, as Alice walked out to the intense desert heat, the cowboy was outside smoking a cigarette.

"You again." She said with evident surprise.

"I'm sorry to ask, ma'am, but are you following me?" He tried to play smart, and she chuckled at that. Outside, with more light, Alice could really take a good look at him. The blond had a sharp jaw, deep green eyes and a dimple on the side of his crooked smirk. He really wasn't bad  _ at all _ .

"You wish." She said cleverly and when he offered her a cigarette. Alice took it. She smoked socially, mostly when she was too drunk. But this felt nice and casual, and she wanted an excuse to linger for a second more.

She brought the piece to her red-painted lips and the cowboy lit it up for her. Her eyes were pierced on him, observing his moves like it was a slow dance.

"Leaving already?" He wondered aloud, but she shook her head, puffing out the smoke.

"Well, for the night." The smirk that danced her lips was taunting. They both seemed to relish the little exchange. "What about you?"

"Not sure yet, contemplating what to do. My friend ditched me." She recalled then how she had seen him along with another man in line, but not at the bar. "Looking for company myself, I guess."

Alice had to laugh because his eyes looked like they were a straightforward suggestion. "Honey, let me break it to you, I'm not a tramp."

It was his turn to chuckle, shaking his head. "I didn't think so."

Taking another blow at the smoke, Alice smirked. "Have you been to the Cosmopolitan? Really nice casino there."

"First time in Vegas, haven't gone anywhere yet. I was told I had to wait for the sun to go down, that's when the real party starts." Alice could see that being a feature of the city, but she disagreed.

"Nonsense. This is Vegas, there's always something going on." She saw her Porsche approach the hotel's driveway. She took a final puff before placing the cigarette on the little sand trash. "Come on, I'll show you around. There's a famous party later tonight. We can go gambling first."

He seemed to be impressed at the invitation. "I don't even know your name, ma'am."

Alice had to grin at that. She liked playing these games.

"Tell me yours first."

"Jasper."

"That's a nice name." He was standing there, anxiously waiting to hear hers then. The display made her chortle. "Just Jasper?"

"We can start with the first." She wasn't the only one playing games and it, somehow, felt enticing to the brunette.

"Alice."

"That's a nice name." He repeated her words and it made her smile again.

"Come on now, there's a lot to catch up in Vegas. You just can't smoke in my car."

Alice was already walking up to her precious possession, awaiting her, and Jasper followed along to the passenger seat.

"Nice ride."

"I don't play around."

Jasper chuckled, nodding, "I can see that."

Once they were both inside the vehicle, she sped off through the streets, a loud music banging through the speakers, and she felt the rush of adrenaline of carrying a stranger in the car with her. She wasn't planning on having a  _ pet _ along with her that weekend, but the man seemed like he could be a perfect distraction.

She immediately recalled Jacob telling her to be careful. But that only served to get her more elated about him.

Alice felt like she could surely use some gambling, partying, and meaningless sex. And it appeared like that was precisely what the night could turn out to be.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the wait. I wrote this literally the day after the lovely @tragicallywicked asked me to join her in writing this fic, but we wanted to get ahead a little and then life just kind of got in the way. This is the first chapter I (irrelevanttous) have written and from now on, we will alternate with every chapter. We hope you guys enjoy it!

Two hours later, Alice found herself next to – face to face with – the blond cowboy, sitting on a bar stool. They had taken a short break from gambling – which they had been doing nonstop ever since they got here – to get a drink. Like the good southern gentleman that he was, he’d offered to buy, even though both of them probably knew she could afford the entire bar if she wanted to.

She used the short, quieter moment to give him a once-over, to really get a chance to look at him. Now that she had already had a few drinks, the cowboy hat and boots didn’t bother her as much as they had before. Somehow they even suited him, especially considering that he was from Texas. He could pull it off, which was something she’d never expected to believe.

But it was more than his choice of clothes that attracted her attention as she looked at him while he was distracted for a brief moment, checking something on his phone. Ever since she’d noticed that damned crooked smile of his, she couldn’t unsee it. God, it was _sexy_. It was as if his whole face started to shine brightly whenever he smiled at her. And every time, she couldn’t help smiling back.

He was charming, too. They had flirted constantly since he’d gotten in the car with her, without ever really revealing anything about themselves. It was a game, and one which Alice was enjoying immensely.

“So, Jasper. Tell me,” she decided to tease him again. “How come that someone who sucks so _badly_ at gambling” – she put a special emphasis on the word badly – “ends up in Vegas for the weekend?”

He chuckled, looking up from his phone again and put it back in his pocket while he turned around on his chair to face her again. There was something about the way he was watching her – so _intrigued_ somehow, as if he was trying to figure her out – that really got to her.

“Does one have to be _good_ at gambling to come to Vegas?” he replied with a grin and Alice laughed.

“I guess not. Perhaps you’re here to get married,” she shrugged. “It’s usually one of those two reasons.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not here to get married, either.”

“I’m glad,” she said boldly and was satisfied when she saw the amused gleam in his eyes.

“You’re really good, though,” Jasper said. “At gambling, I mean. You practically destroyed me at poker. Thank God I didn’t bet that much money. I should have known better than to bet against you, ma’am.”

She liked his compliments more than she led on. At his words, the corner of his mouth twisted into a grin. “Well, I do come here a lot more often than you do. I still can’t believe you live in New York. Do they not give you odd looks there when you walk down the streets with that hat and those boots?”

It was a question she’d thought about for the entire night. Still, now that she’d said it out loud, she worried for the fraction of a second whether that had been too rude.

But the grin still hadn’t left his face. “That’s the great thing about New York, honey. Nobody gives a fuck what you wear. You guys are different, right? In L.A., I mean?”

Alice gave him a playfully indignant look but nodded to answer his question. “Wow, I could not survive in a world where nobody cared about what I wear. Impressing people is my greatest pleasure in life.”

Jasper raised his eyebrow at that. “The greatest? Really? Sounds to me as if you don’t know that much about pleasure.”

The way he said it - so fucking _casual_ \- drove her absolutely insane. She already had a premonition how this night was going to end, and it most certainly wouldn’t be with a sweet goodnight kiss in front of her hotel room door.

“Maybe I’ll show you just _how_ much I know about pleasure,” she shot back, her voice teasing.

She would not be outwitted by a guy from Texas _wearing a cowboy hat_ , for God’s sake.

She could see by the way his eyes widened slightly at her innuendo that the thought intrigued him just as much as it did her.

But before he could think of a response, the barkeeper was back, asking them what they wanted to drink. Alice ordered her usual drink, a martini with gin, and the man turned to her companion.

“Eh, just water, please,” Jasper said, seemingly taken aback all of a sudden.

Alice raised her eyebrows. Just water? What the hell was wrong with this guy?

She voiced her thoughts, “Water? Seriously?”

Jasper turned back to look at her, meeting her eyes for a moment. Then, he sighed and turned back to the barkeeper. “Fine. Cancel the water. I’ll have what she’s having.”

Alice grinned. “That’s more like it.”

While they waited for their drinks, she felt his eyes on her as she scanned the room. It was an old habit of hers, to look out for security cameras or casino workers. She’d never been caught cheating, but she knew it was only because she was very careful.

And very clever.

The high arched ceilings were spotted with dome security cameras and Alice grinned, thinking about how she didn’t have to worry about _those_ tonight.

This time, she really was exclusively here for _pleasure_.

“See something funny?” Jasper’s voice brought her back from her thoughts and she turned to face him once more.

“I just love casinos,” she said mysteriously. “All the flashing lights, the sounds of people swearing at the machines, the smell of cigarettes and money… it’s all very fascinating to me.”

“You can smell money?” he asked with amusement and Alice laughed.

“Honey, if you’d grown up like me, you could, too.” She regretted the words the instant the left her mouth, realising that this was not a good direction for their conversation to go in. Jacob’s reminder to be careful around Jasper came back to her mind and she knew he was right. She didn’t know anything about this guy and while she would most likely never see him again after tonight, she still couldn’t start talking about who she was.

And unfortunately, he instantly took the invitation she’d unwillingly given him. “Tell me more about that. How _did_ you grow up?”

She shook her head slightly, taking another sip from her drink. Jasper raised his eyebrow again at the gesture, and she put her glass down and glanced back at him.

“Look, _Jasper_. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression just there, but I’m not actually all that interested in getting to know you, or letting you get to know me. I’m just looking for some fun. I don’t really want to talk about my life.”

She knew she had to say it now before he got his hopes up. Men had a tendency to be like that: when one threw them a crumb, they started to want the whole loaf.

It was something that had annoyed her about her former lovers in the past. What was so wrong about some good old, meaningless sex?

But Jasper seemed to accept her words without hesitation. “I can do fun.”

“Are you sure?” Now it was her turn to grin at him.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

She laughed. “Well, you suck at gambling, so you’ve clearly never done it before, and – had I not saved you from that decision – you would have just ordered _water_ at a fucking bar. I’m not so sure our definitions of fun are quite the same.”

He joined in her laughter, thankfully not offended by her words. “I see your point. I swear, I’m not always like this.”

“ _Uptight_ , you mean?”

Jasper scoffed at that, chugging his drink as if to prove her wrong. “How dare you. I could drink you under the table.” To emphasize this, he stared down at her tiny figure. “You’re a lightweight. I’m sure you’ll be completely wasted after that drink.”

His voice was teasing once again, and Alice glared at him in fake outrage. “Excuse me? I have attended parties you’ve never even dreamed of. Rich people know how to drink, let me tell you that. So I will not be made fun of by the guy ordering _water_ at the bar.”

Jasper groaned. “Can’t we just let this go?”

But his eyes were gleaming at her, and Alice felt breathless all of a sudden, taken by surprise by how much she enjoyed the way he was looking at her.

In fact, his eyes were wandering down her body right now, from her face to the neckline of her dress – which was very revealing after all – to the legs she had crossed on the barstool.

Alice knew exactly how sexy she was, how perfect she looked in that dress; it wasn’t arrogance, just self-confidence and experience. For her whole life, she’d been aware of the effect she had on men; so why would this cowboy from the South be any different?

And while she thought about it: She’d never been with a cowboy before. Maybe she needed to add that to her list.

Jasper was still staring at her as if he wanted to throw her against a wall and kiss her senseless, and Alice started wishing that he _would_ more and more with each passing second.

He was tall, which was perfect – she’d always had a thing for the tall guys. And Alice could not deny that he was sexy, although she did not know how much of that assessment was due to the alcohol in her veins and how much was her actual taste.

Before she had a chance to think about it further – and what she was going to do about this attraction for him –, his phone vibrated in his pocket and he gave her an apologetical look. She gestured him to continue, even though in truth, she was a little annoyed that his phone seemed so important to him, even in her presence.

He pulled it out of his pocket and stared down at it with a frown.

“Something wrong?” she asked, more to be polite than anything.

Jasper pushed the phone back into his pocket and shrugged. “My ex.”

Alice gave him a questioning look after that. “Bad break-up?”

“Well,” he said, seeming unsure if he should tell her about this but then seemed to throw that out the window because he continued, “We’ve never _actually_ dated to be honest. It was just a friends-with-benefits type of thing, you know? She’s a colleague at the office in New York.”

“I see,” Alice nodded. “And you couldn’t date officially because of corporate rules?”

Jasper laughed, shaking his head. “No, it was nothing like that. It was the good, old she-doesn’t-want-to-be-with-me situation.”

She couldn’t stifle her laughter and decided to tease him a little. “Are you a hopeless romantic, Jasper?”

He looked back at her then, his eyes drilling into hers with such intensity that she felt a little dizzy. “I don’t think so, no. But maybe I just haven’t met the right woman yet.”

Why did those words nearly make her shiver with excitement? Alice blamed the alcohol. She had experienced this before - this attraction, this need for someone - so she wrote it off as just that.

“Maybe,” she agreed, trying to make her voice sound as casual as possible.

Realising she could not stay here - sitting across from him doing nothing while he was staring at her like _this_ -, she decided to deflect. “I told you about that party, right? Should we move on? I could prove to you that you can absolutely _not_ drink me under the table.”

She was already standing up, and thankfully, still felt relatively steady on her feet. It would have been embarrassing otherwise, after the comment she’d just made.

Jasper nodded. “Let’s see about that.”

_____________________________________

He realised this was a _terrible_ idea.

Alice knew how to have fun, he had to give her that, but by their fourth drink, it became obvious to him that this night would most likely not do anything to help their investigation.

The only way he could still see that happening, was if she got too drunk to realise what she was saying; perhaps then, he could ask her a few – seemingly dull – questions about her job and maybe - just maybe -, she would give something away about her upcoming operation.

But then again, he was already starting to get sufficiently drunk at this point, too, and he wasn’t sure if he could pull a casual interrogation off tonight without stirring up her suspicion. If he had learned something about her tonight, then it was definitely that she was careful and extremely smart. Not once had she even gotten close to spilling a secret about her life, her job or anything along those lines.

A while ago, they had started to dance together at this party – someone had rented out one of the nightclubs to celebrate their birthday – and he could practically feel the control over this evening slip away from him with each passing moment.

His main problem: she was _far too_ attractive; and Alice was well aware of it, too. He had not expected that to catch him off guard, to derail him like this, but it did. Truthfully, it was all he could think about. That skin-tight black dress she was wearing - with a neckline that almost reached down to her belly button - wasn’t helping.

Jasper had always had a thing for petite women. His “ex”, Maria, had been on the short side of the spectrum as well.

So it was hard for him to focus on anything else, when Alice’s back was pressed against his chest like this, with his arms wrapped around her waist and her hands on his. She was grinding her hips back against him to the music and it was driving him crazy.

 _Fuck_ , he was too drunk for this.

He regretted that last drink; ever since he’d gulped it down, his brain didn’t seem to function properly anymore.

Alice was ignoring everyone else in the room: she was just focused on him, as they moved to the rhythm of the music. Not, that there was much rhythm in the song that was playing right now. But he was too drunk to care about that, too.

“So, are you enjoying Vegas so far, Cowboy?” At some point during the evening, Alice had stopped calling him by his name and was now simply referring to him as “cowboy”.

It turned him on way more than was appropriate.

 _Focus_ , he cautioned himself. She was his _mission._ He could not get carried away by the fact that she also happened to be a very beautiful woman.

“I have to say, I do, Ma’am,” he replied, not even able to be ashamed of how wasted his tone sounded. Although Alice’s voice wasn’t any better.

She giggled. “Want me to show you what a _really_ good time is?”

Jasper couldn’t help feeling intrigued by her offer, although he had no idea what she meant. His brain was always slower than usual when he was intoxicated.

“Is this not a _Really Good Time_ right now?”

“I bet I can make it even better.”

“And only a fool would bet against you, ma’am.” By now, they had settled into an easy routine of flirting. They had been doing it constantly throughout the night.

She laughed again. “Exactly.”

Then, she weaselled out of his grip, took his hand, and pulled him past the other party guests. He wanted to ask where she was headed, but the music was louder here and he didn’t want to scream. So he kept the question to himself for now.

As soon as they’d exited the club through a side door, and were standing in the hallway of the hotel – in which the club was located – Alice pushed him against the wall. The manoeuvre only worked because he was so wasted and had not expected this - she was so much smaller than him -, but he actually stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall.

Her hands were in his hair then, as she pulled him down to meet her lips, her fingers gripping his golden locks with force. The passion of the gesture made him gasp into her mouth, and Alice used his brief moment of shock to slide her tongue into his mouth expertly.

That was the moment his last remaining brain cells took their leave, and he wrapped his arms around her waist instinctively, pulling her closer against his body.

For a long moment, all he could hear was the sound of their lips connecting, as well as their panting into each other’s mouths.

Alice pulled back then, and he realised that his neck hurt from bowing down to her, meeting her face half-way, so to speak. She grinned as he rubbed his hand over it.

“Fuck, you’re tall,” she said, before adding suggestively, “Let’s go somewhere a little more private.”

And while Jasper – somewhere, in the back of his mind - realised that this was the _moment_ – this was when he should tell her that this was not going to happen –, he felt himself unable to. Instead, he _nodded_ , and Alice smiled at him again, once more intertwined their fingers, and started pulling him after her.

The whole duration of the cab ride, Jasper was fighting a mental battle with himself. There was some part of his brain left that was still aware that _he could absolutely not do this._ Not only was it unprofessional, it also had the potential to ruin literally their entire operation.

But at the same time, her body against his felt so irresistible, so good.

He wanted nothing more than to rip that fucking dress, which drove him so insane, off of her, throw her tiny body on a bed and fuck her into the mattress until she could not remember her own name. She’d been riling him up the whole night and that sexual tension between them was beginning to become unbearable.

Alice kissed him, then, in the cab, entirely unbothered by the fact that the cab driver was probably watching them in the rear-view mirror.

And then, suddenly, it was all too easy.

The doubts had been thrown out of the window; he’d weighed them against that incredible feeling of her lips against his and the way her body seemed to mould into his, and all of a sudden, there were no doubts anymore. Those would return – as a tiny voice in his mind reminded him –, but not tonight.

The way to his hotel room was a haze. He couldn’t remember how they got there, only how, in the elevator, he’d pushed her against the wall and had attacked her lips fervidly, his ego loving the way she’d whimpered into his mouth in return.

As soon as he’d slammed the door of his room behind them, he’d lifted her off her feet, glad to finally be able to do something about that height difference between them. She truly was a tiny woman and he was quite tall, even for a guy. Without hesitation, she willingly wrapped her legs around his waist, as he walked them over to his bed, practically throwing her on it. His cowboy hat was the first item of clothing to leave his body when she took it off him and dropped it to the floor.

Within seconds, he was on top of her again, not able to wait any longer. Alice opened her legs without delay, allowing him to settle between them.

But then, when he ran his fingers down to the hem of her dress – since the damned thing didn’t seem to have a zipper – to pull it off her, she suddenly used the way her legs were wrapped around his torso to roll them around until she was straddling him.

In this position, he gasped at the contact her core made with his still clothed erection. Alice leaned forward, capturing his lips again for a moment before she moved on, biting his earlobe. Jasper couldn’t help but exhale sharply; she knew what she was doing.

Alice nibbled at his earlobe again – sensing just how crazy she was driving him – and whispered, her lips only an inch away from his ear, “Save a horse, ride a cowboy.”

For a few seconds – probably because he was so fucking drunk – that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard, making him crack up hysterically. Alice joined in and momentarily, the spell between them seemed to almost be broken. During that brief moment, Jasper could finally remember all the reasons why they couldn’t – and _shouldn’t_ – do this.

But then, her lips were on his again, and he turned back into the braindead idiot he’d been ever since she’d first kissed him.

Now that she was on top of him, it was a lot easier to finally get rid of that dress she was still wearing, so he made quick work of that. She wasn’t wearing a bra, so she was left only in a lacy thong that did little to hide anything. Jasper could only stare at her – she was so incredibly beautiful like this, with her skin shimmering in the dim light of his hotel room like ivory and that dark, short hair sticking out in every possible direction.

He wanted her so badly, it was hard to breathe at this point.

She had started unbuttoning his shirt and left a trail of kisses and bites on every inch of skin she exposed. Jasper wanted to be proactive, but Alice was making it hard for him when she was grinding her hips down against his like that, her mouth never leaving his skin.

As soon as she’d opened the last button, she pulled his upper body up with his help to take the shirt off him. She carelessly threw it into a corner of the room, now moving on to his belt.

He could only push his fingers into her hair, finding no grip in it because it was so short, and try his best not to come before she had even taken his pants off. He was _that_ turned on.

Alice had opened his belt by now and pushed his pants down his legs, taking his boxers off at the same time while she was at it. He was now entirely naked and she licked her lips at the sight of his cock. And although it was incredibly arousing to think what those lips would look – and feel – like around his length, he still knew that he was probably too drunk to come more than once, so he wanted to come while he was fucking her.

“Do you want me to get…”

Before he could even finish the sentence, she shook her head, already knowing what he was going to ask. “I’m on the pill. And I’m clean.”

“Me, too.”

The reason he knew this was because of the regular health examinations they had to go through in the FBI every few months. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind: he didn’t want to think about the FBI right now.

Jasper lifted his upper body off the mattress, holding himself upright with one arm, and shifted her around enough to take off her thong, sliding his fingers between her legs immediately. Alice gasped into his mouth at the feeling and Jasper was satisfied by how wet for him she already was. And she would _have_ to be, to fit him inside.

She pushed him back onto the mattress then, taking both of his hands into hers and pushing them over his head, holding them there. Jasper raised his eyebrow in question, and she grinned down at him.

“Patience, my cowboy.”

He’d never expected her to be so dominant, but fuck, it was sexy. He was loving every second of it.

She put both her hands on his shoulders and moved into position, placing her entrance just inches over his cock. A few times she teased him, only taking his tip inside, clearly relishing the moans he couldn’t hold back at the feeling. And yet, he made no move to turn this around on her, because it just felt too good to let her have all the power.

She leaned down again to recapture his lips; that was also when she finally sank down on him, taking most of his cock in with one smooth movement.

They both moaned at the feeling of their bodies finally connecting. He had to restrain himself back from thrusting all the way up into her heat. God, she was _tight_.

Jasper opened his eyes to look at her then, and saw that her eyes were rolled back in pleasure. She was a stunning sight, with her red, swollen lips, the slight flush in her cheeks and her eyes half-closed. The fingernails of both her hands bored into his shoulders as she tried a few, shallow thrusts, having to get used to the size of him. Jasper knew he wasn’t small, and she was a tiny woman, so he figured it couldn’t be too comfortable for her.

But Alice didn’t seem to care, because, after those first few thrusts, she sped up her pace, bringing her hips down hard on his, making them both moan loudly every time their bodies met. Jasper bit his bottom lip, otherwise, the sounds rolling over his lips would have been embarrassing. He brought his hands up to her boobs, pinching her nipples while she fucked him.

That drove her insane, from the looks – and sounds – of it. Jasper already dreaded the end, which he knew would eventually – soon – come. Alice seemed to sense that, too, because she was slowing down her movements a little, her back arched and her eyes closed now.

Jasper couldn’t stand it anymore.

He wasn’t used to it, being the passive part of this, and he felt the desire to _really_ make her scream his name. So he wrapped one of his arms around her waist, which made her eyes flicker open in surprise before he lifted her off him and rolled them around. All throughout this, he never once slipped out of her, so that he could now fuck her into the mattress properly.

Alice stared up at him for a moment, clearly still surprised at this change of position, but when he drove his hips into hers – _hard_ – while grinning down at her face, she seemed to forget about that instantly, gripping the bedspread underneath her with one, and his shoulder with her other hand. He started setting a hard, desperate pace which seemed to serve both of them well. At least he was quite sure she liked it, if the way she was now constantly moaning his name with every thrust was any indication.

He was close, he realised, but she would take a little longer to get off, so he pulled out again. Alice’s eyes opened – she looked completely mad with lust at this point – as she stared up at him.

“Turn around,” he ordered her, knowing that the angle would be better, and that it would give him a chance to get his hands on her while fucking her.

She raised her eyebrow but grinned - just trusting him blindly to get her off at this point - and complied, getting up on her hands and knees. Jasper settled behind her, sliding his hand between her legs again, and his cock back into her pussy.

This time, she _was_ screaming with pleasure.

In this position, it didn’t take them long. The bed was shaking with the force of his thrusts, the headrest banging against the wall. One small part of Jasper’s brain registered that Alice’s moans were probably loud enough for their room neighbours to hear, and he realised with a delay that James was actually one of said neighbours. The other man occupied the room next to him.

This would be difficult to explain.

But right now, all he could think about was this moment right now and how amazing this felt, so he didn’t care too much. And he didn’t have time to wonder about how he would explain this, because, at that moment, Alice came with a shriek, her upper body collapsing against the mattress when her arms gave in, her face buried in the sheets. It only took Jasper a few more thrusts to follow her over the edge.

When he pulled out of her after a short moment, he rolled himself onto his back next to her. Both of them were trying to catch their breaths.

For a few moments, neither of them said anything and the only sounds in the room were their uneven breaths. Then, Alice turned onto her side and grinned at him.

“I’ve never had sex with a cowboy before, but I have to say, if it’s always like this, I might be willing to repeat that.”

He chuckled at her words. “Next time, give a guy a warning, please.”

__________________________________

When he woke up the next morning, Alice was gone, and Jasper was left alone with a massive hangover and the realisation of what he’d done.

 _Fuck_.

He would most likely be taken off the Brandon Investigation if his superiors ever found out about this. It had been a while since he last read the rulebook, but he was pretty sure “sleeping with the target of your mission” was pretty high up on the “Don’t”-list. It became clear to him that nobody could ever know.

But _God_ , had it been good.

He was slightly pissed that she was gone, though. She couldn’t even stick around until he woke up? Alice hadn’t left a note, or her phone number or _anything_. And that even though Jasper had felt like they’d had a real connection last night.

But maybe this was just her style. Maybe she wasn’t interested in letting someone get close. “ _I have no interest in getting to know you_ ”, she’d said. Not trusting people probably came with her business.

Well, that was too bad for her, Jasper thought. Because he would _have to_ find out more about her for the investigation.

He had no intention of letting her get away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? Leave it to A. to bring me in just in time for the smut, haha.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter of this amazing story that I'm loving to write with my friend M. Like she explained in the previous chapter, we planned the entire story together and are now alternating chapters, so this one is by me (tragicallywicked) but irrelevanttous still deserves credit cause M has helped me review and improve it like the good friend she is. Enjoy the reading! ♡
> 
> PS. NSFW scene ahead.

Past the frustration, Jasper decided he needed to regroup with James to come up with a plan for them to catch Alice Brandon. Last night, as incredible as it had been, was a sidetrack that could cost him a lot. Not only the mission but _a lot_ of government money and how he was seen in his department. Jasper didn’t care so much about the _status_ of it, but the fact that damaging the mission could come at a great cost to others. He cared very little about James, but it would still be a dick move of Jasper to damage the man’s career because he couldn’t keep it in his pants. Now, more than ever, Jasper had to concentrate on catching her.

Thankfully, he was damn good at his job.

After a brief exchange of texts, Jasper met James at the hotel’s restaurant for brunch. It was way past noon and it was _clear_ that Jasper hadn’t slept much the night before.

James had come by his room late and knocked, but Jasper seemed to be either asleep or out. James decided later that it was the latter. He’d heard the noises next door and it sounded like Jasper did a little more than just more than work in Vegas. But having done some gambling himself, James couldn’t blame a man for getting lucky in a city like this.

“Rough night?” There was a cheeky smirk across his lips. Jasper knew how to separate personal life and work—the night before had been the first time he wasn’t able to do so—but he could lie about it so his expression remained blank.

“Something like that,” Jasper waved at the waiter and ordered an orange juice with the promoted combo of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. Normally, he would indulge in a more healthy routine, but the fat was needed when he still felt so hungover. “I managed to get across Brandon last night.”

“Shit,” James seemed immediately surprised, and he did the math of _who_ could have been in Jasper’s room. “Was she in your room?”

“No, no. Course not. That was… Someone else,” he trailed off. Obviously James had heard it, but he hadn’t _seen_ anything. So Jasper just had to play cool and be smart. “I met with Alice before, we talked, and gambled.”

“She let out any information?”

“No, she’s smart. She knows how to cover her tracks and avoid talking work,” a little too smart for Jasper’s taste. It was still bothering him how she’d left without a warning before he was even awake. No note. Nothing. He might not be looking to date his target, but he would have been nice enough to leave a note.

From an investigator’s perspective, it would have been really helpful to have her handwriting somewhere. _Anything_ that could, later on, tie her to a signature in a deal, or a bank, would have been extremely useful. But it would be extremely hard for him to explain such a note, so perhaps this was for the best. Still, his ego was bruised.

“So, what do you have in mind?” James asked because he knew from the look on Jasper’s face that there had to be something on his mind.

“Alright so listen,” Jasper sat up straighter, speaking closer and lower—the noise in the restaurant muting their conversation. “She’s still here for another day, so I’ll try to run into her again. Maybe you can hang nearby or at the same table. I’ll play to win. Sure looked like she doesn’t enjoy being crossed, but she likes the challenge.” As Jasper recalled well, it turned her on very much. “If I can get her chatting, maybe she’ll let something that we can use slip.”

It wasn’t exactly the ambush James had been hoping for, but anything Alice said in front of an agent—even undercover—could be used against her. It was their best bet and honestly the closest they’d gotten to catching her—that James knew of.

“I can send her a drink,” James suggested. It wouldn’t exactly be a problem had Jasper not slept with her and she’d known he was in Vegas with a friend. She had remembered him from the line, there was a chance she remembered James as well.

“Should you?” He wondered, seeming to consider when he was in fact trying to get James to drop the idea. “That could compromise any information.”

“Maybe she’ll get more excited if both of us are sending her drinks,” his words made Jasper frown. “We just won’t mention the drinks.”

_What kind of idea was that?_

“What makes you think she won’t say we were shamelessly alcoholizing her, once we bring her in for questioning?” That got under Jasper’s nerves for a moment. Of course, it had to be James to play such low games.

“Whatever man, send or don’t send her the drink.”

“I’ll be focused on the game. She was flirty yesterday, maybe that will get on her nerves.” _Or make her go with James instead_ , Jasper thought, feeling his blood get cold with the idea that she might actually do that. He had not stopped to think about that until just then, how Alice might in fact flirt with James, or other men for that matter. He couldn’t expect it to be any different, yet it still annoyed him a little to think of her flirting with _James_.

He shook those thoughts, trying to focus on work. “We gotta find out where she’ll be playing tonight. It seems here’s not her go-to. We gambled at Caesar's last night.”

“Leave that to me. My guy in can get that information from her staff,” James told him confidently.

“Alright, then we’re set for later.”

“Let’s get this bitch.”

Somehow, Jasper had a terrible feeling about it all.

* * *

Breakfast was set on the dining table in Alice’s presidential suite while she took a bath. Soaking in warm water and bubbles, her muscles relaxed but it was the memory of the night before that brought a tingling to her entire body.

She’d slipped out of the cowboy’s room before he awoke but not without taking a good look at the hot mess of a man she’d fucked desperately all night. _Jasper_. He was surely unexpected in her weekend getaway, disposable but sure worth her time. Alice didn’t remember the last time she had sex _that good_ and it was something she had surely been craving. But she wasn’t the lovey-dovey kind, thus why she didn’t stick around to see him wake up.

Alice preferred things like that, no complications, no awkward talks. She was certain he would prefer it that way as well, without having to rush her out of the room because he _had made different plans_. That way they could both stick with the good parts. The lingering sensation of his body pressed against hers was still there. Alice had too many rules about two nights in a row so she wouldn’t look for him again. Instead, she would find herself another distraction—either that being gambling or another boy toy to play with.

Wrapped in a robe, she picked on the lavish feast the staff had set up for her, taking a look at her phone’s notifications from the previous night and that morning. A missed call from her Los Angeles contact at _eight am_ on a Saturday set her on high alert. It was either a new deal or really bad news.

Dialing back, Alice tapped her nails impatiently on the table.

“F _inally, Brandon!_ ” The male on the other side sounded exasperated and Alice knew then that it would _not_ be a good new deal.

“Why did you call so early? What’s going on?”

“ _Fucking took you long enough,_ ” She rolled her eyes impatiently.

“I’m in Vegas. What happened? Tell me already.” Alice didn’t understand the need for a lecture when the news was more important.

“ _That SPA deal got picked up by the Feds,_ ” his words made her heart sink immediately—not just because she had invested a large amount of money into the deal but also the Feds were starting to linger too close for comfort.

Even if Alice was always careful, she had seen how smart these people were, they could surely find the crumbs that lead back to her if there were one too many slips. Alice did it for the thrill, for the excitement. She wasn’t a drug lord or an assassin. Sure, she stole a lot of money, but the last thing Alice wanted was the feds discovering the deal. Having rich parents always helped her cover-up and explain the high expenses, but one could never be too careful.

“Are you shitting me?” Alice was completely taken by the news, dropping the food back on the table as her appetite completely disappeared.

“ _Fucking wish I was, Brandon! They got our guy transporting the clean cash and they have_ pictures of the entire laundering scheme _._ ” _Photos_ were never a good thing, she thought to herself. The thought immediately terrified Alice, she could _not_ afford being involved in a scheme that the Feds had gone so deep into. What if they had pictures of her?

“You don’t have anything from me, do you?” Her voice was urgent, on the verge of panic.

“ _No, no! Chill, I wouldn’t be calling you if they had something on you,_ ” he said quickly and Alice let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. At least there was that. “ _But the money's gone. And we’re gonna go underground for a while, lay low._ ”

“Fucking great.” That was _just_ what she needed today.

“ _Nothing I can do, Brandon._ ”

“You better think of a way to get my money back,” she almost barked that out, her anger so palpable, so threatening. She wasn’t a dangerous woman, per se. Sure, she carried a gun and knew how to shoot very well. But Alice wouldn’t willingly go do so, even for a large amount of money. She was a thief, not a murderer.

“ _When we get back, yeah. We’ll arrange something. But it’s gonna be a few months,_ ” he trailed off but then added, “ _And yeah, I know you got friends everywhere. I wouldn’t be letting you know if I was gonna disappear. So have a little faith, will ya?_ ”

“Yeah, sure.”

“ _I’ll call you when we’re back_.”

Still bothered by the outcome, Alice huffed. She _hated_ losing.

Alice decided that tonight she was definitely going gambling, try to get her mind off it. There was a pool event in her hotel that afternoon that was bound to have some poker tables set up. The idea thrilled her, winning excited her the most. Just the sheer pleasure of knowing she carried such power in her wisdom—because poker wasn’t a gamble of luck merely, you had to be smart to win it. And Alice _always_ won.

Only then did she remember she hadn’t got any swimming clothes, so instead of heading straight to the pool party, Alice drove to some high-end stores at The Strip. If her day was going to start so shitty, she had to at least make something out of it.

Shopping was one of Alice’s favorite activities, online or in-person—although there was a magic about going to a store that no online shopping could replace. The Venetian carried her favorite high-end boutiques, as well as the mall across from the same hotel. Because there was no rush in returning—those Vegas pool parties went _way_ into the night—Alice took her time inspecting the stores.

Many items she had selected in the catalogs were already perfectly hung on the closet in her room at the Four Seasons, but it was simply therapeutic to shop more. Even after losing an ungodly amount of money that morning, it wasn’t something that would be missing in her life. The truth was that Alice’s schemes were like her shopping—a distraction. Her family had enough money that Alice wouldn’t ever have to work a single day in her life. It was something she never had to worry about.

Before she finally settled on a bikini from Burberry—black with just the lining and a few small details in the brand’s iconic plaid, Alice strolled and collected bags from Prada, Chanel and a few others. It got her mind off her problems. At least, until the next one showed up.

Dressed in the bikini, a dark sheer robe, heels and a large brim sun hat, Alice walked into the pool party turning some heads to her figure. Under the sunglasses, she scanned the area for the poker tables. Earlier, before heading out to shop, she had checked with the front desk about the event. Alice was thrilled to find out about the poker, but now looking into the chaos of people in the pool and the loud music, it all sounded very distracting.

Alice liked to concentrate on her game because she liked to win—and it was nearly impossible to count cards if one wasn’t extremely focused. But she was already there, no turning back now.

A pop tune from Liam Payne and Quavo was playing on the sound boxes everywhere as Alice walked up to the poker table. She remembered the release party of the song in Los Angeles. Some singers were her personal friends, and one had dragged her to the event. Alice didn’t regret leaving there with another _very attractive_ music personality. But they were just good fun for Alice. If there was one thing she had learned from her musician friends was that their industry was _a lot_ more cutthroat than the Hollywood folks. But the music sure brought her some memories.

Much to her surprise as she made it to the table, all her confidence faded when Alice saw Jasper sitting there. She should have figured he would be there, they had been staying at the same hotel, he had never been to Vegas—it was obvious he would be attending the pool parties. Still, it was a surprise to find him at the gambling tables.

He hadn’t seen her yet, eyes focused intently on the cards dealt to him. It would have been the perfect window for Alice to escape had she not accidentally observed his pool attire.

Jasper dressed in shorts, not the swimming kind, but white linen ones—very good ones, as she observed mentally. The light blue button-up with short sleeves revealed part of his torso—as one too many buttons were undone. The quick flashback of the broad muscular chest pressed against her the night before made her hold her breath. She was thankful to see he had sandals on and _not_ cowboy boots like the day before. But he was still wearing that _stupid sexy_ cowboy hat. What a curse was that man—so attractively out of style.

Alice was ready to turn in her heels and leave the place when the dealer called her attention.

“Are you entering, Miss?” That made the other eyes on the table gaze at her, but Alice was only watching one set of them. “We’re about to start.”

He didn’t seem thrilled to see her, not bothered either, but he was unmoved. Alice should have expected it, it was her who had set the no involvement rule, she had cut him off the night before when he tried to venture into a more personal conversation. But Alice had hoped to see him the slightest bit surprised. Yet, there was nothing.

“Yes,” she responded to the dealer, taking a seat across from him, leaving after he had seen her would only give the impression that Alice cared the slightest bit—which she told herself vehemently that she didn’t.

It was game time and from what she had seen of him the night before, there was no chance Alice wouldn’t win.

“How much?” the dealer asked.

“Hundred thousand, please,” Alice flashed her room key, guarding the information the dealer needed to credit her bets to the casino’s system, and handed her the chips. All players at the table seemed moved by the amount—Alice never played around, though. 

The dealer passed on her cards and Alice inspected the nine and the four of aces in her hands. Not exactly the best cards on the pile, but definitely two that she could use up to her advantage. Poker wasn’t just about the cards though so under the sunglasses her eyes darted to the players on the table. Another blond with a ponytail, sitting by Jasper, eyed the cards and then his eyes fell back on her.

She didn’t find it strange because Alice was used to men being drawn to her—especially in a bikini. The man wasn’t half bad either, broad shoulders and what seemed like fine muscles under the tight t-shirt. Somehow he didn’t seem to have that much of a brain, which was good for the game—and perhaps later after it was over. By him, there was a large older man, dark hair turning grey on its roots. He was sweating like a pig and Alice could tell it wasn’t because of the desert heat—he likely had a terrible hand. The last player was this thin Asian man that taped his hand frantically on his chin.

“Betting rounds,” the dealer announced and clockwise players cast their choices.

“Bet,” Jasper began, taking some of the chips to place on the table. She wondered whether it was a bluff or he recalled her instructions from the night before—when he lost miserably.

“Check,” the other blonde said. She watched him unquiet on his seat and figured he either had no clue of poker or carried as well a terrible hand. He seemed to still be trying to bluff, though.

“Fold,” the older guy said, proving Alice’s point that he’d got a horrible one. 

“I’ll call,” the Asian man announced, fiddling with his chips before placing the matched bet in the center of the oval table.

“I see your bet, and I raise it,” she was confident of her hand, so Alice went ahead and doubled Jasper and the Asian man’s bet.

The dealer closed the pre-flop bets and much to Alice’s delight, the round was hers. It immediately boosted her confidence as they moved onto the following rounds. The Asian man took up on the second one, but she was still trusting her instinct there, and her counting.

What Alice _didn’t know_ was of Jasper watching her do just that.

He took advantage of it to win the third betting round and they were high up there on the bets when the fourth community cards had all been dealt already. On _the river_ —the fourth betting round and final one—Alice was certain her hand would grant her the highest chance on the table.

She bet high on it and the others folded. Jasper raised her. It was just the two of them in the game—and seemingly in that single space as their full focus was on each other.

“Will you raise?” The dealer asked her then.

Playing with the chips in her hand, her eyes were stuck on Jasper. He knew that too well, even with the sunglasses concealing her gaze. The man, on the other hand, had no trouble watching her from across the table. He decided to encourage her competitive spirit a little further.

“Bet you can’t beat it, Alice,” the way he had used her name, so intimately, sent a shiver down her spine. Alice bit her bottom lip and all could see the smile dancing her lips.

“You’ve gotten pretty good since last night, Jasper,” For a moment she considered whether he’d known poker all along and last night had been a devious plan to get in her pants. It sore her ego a little, but she couldn’t say she was unhappy with the outcome.

“Beginner’s luck,” with his shrug, Alice concluded he was definitely taunting her.

Alice tried to focus back on the game, hands still fidgeting with the chips. It was a habit when she was thinking of the cards, trying to picture the hands. She would pile them up, move the piles around, shuffle the chips. All very clear moves of someone with great familiarity with all that gambling world.

“I’ll raise,” she said, at last, tossing the chips in.

All pairs of eyes moved to Jasper and he smirked, taking the matching chips and placing on the table.

“Call.”

“Bets closed,” the dealer announced.

Alice’s face dropped when he revealed the cards and Jasper’s hand topped hers. He’d outplayed her and the son of a bitch was _damn_ happy about it.

“Well done, Jasper,” her tone was bitter, and that made him especially satisfied. For this morning and for the plan seemingly working. If his ego had ever been bruised, seeing the shock in her face when he won her that way, in such a fair and well-played game, surely had helped him feel better about himself.

“Learned from the best,” by the tone—and the win—it was clear he wasn’t a fool in poker.

Jasper collected the credits and rose from his seat.

“Gentlemen. Alice,” he said and didn’t wait for her to follow, but he _knew_ that she would.

At the wet bar, Alice caught up to him.

She had debated whether or not to go after him as the sudden exit had seemed to have been done on purpose so Alice would do just as he wanted. She didn’t rush, though. Alice thanked the dealer as she recollected her dignity and rose from her seat, taking her damn sweet time to walk up to the man.

He was watching her, shamelessly. There was no escaping when her eyes caught up to him, holding a _stupid_ glass of bourbon at a pool party, watching her so closely. Jasper wasn’t wearing sunglasses so there was no hiding that his eyes examined her choice of clothing for the afternoon. _That_ Alice could enjoy - the hunger in his eyes as she moved toward him.

“You lied,” she affirmed upon her arrival. “And who drinks bourbon in this goddamn heat?”

Jasper chuckled with amusement. “Well, you _left_.”

So that was it. He was bitter that she had disappeared in the morning? “I thought I had made it clear I wasn’t doing it for the relationship, cowboy. Last night was fun.”

Jasper lost, for a moment, his train of thought as the nickname brought him the images of their previous night. “A haze too,” he played along. “I hope we didn’t do anything too stupid.”

“Don’t you remember the chapel, darling?” For a moment, Jasper went paperwhite and the sight alone made Alice crack up in laughter.

“Alright, alright… What are you having?”

“I’ll have the wild berry frozé,” the choice earned an eyebrow raise and Alice rolled her eyes. “I start light.”

He ordered the drink for her and sipped on his cup. “And as for this morning, I was not talking about relationships. But I was sure hoping for a second morning round.”

The mental image of straddling that hot mess she’d seen that morning, before she left, and riding him senseless, made Alice regret having left, for just a second. She was glad the drink arrived when her mouth felt extremely dry. Jasper passed on the drink and their fingers brushed. Alice felt the electricity radiating and smirked as she brought the cup to her lips.

“You wish, huh?”

“How did I lie, again?” Jasper recalled then, deciding to drop the subject of sex before they got too carried away into it.

“You _do_ know poker,” it was further confirmed when he shrugged. “Were you just faking it to get in my pants?” Although her tone sounded outraged, her laugh was a delicious melody.

“Well…”

“You didn’t have to, cowboy,” she was true about that part, he didn’t need to be bad at gambling—that was normally a turn-off. Jasper, much to her surprise, had _a lot_ of things that turned her on. The height was a special one.

“I don’t know, you seemed pretty competitive just a second ago.”

“And yet here I am,” her tone was very suggestive this time. Jasper didn’t have to be an investigator to know she was flirting with him. The problem was he was thoroughly enjoying it and his workmate was just a few feet away from them—watching, but unable to hear.

“Thought you weren’t up for second rounds,” he mumbled, wishing she wasn’t using those sunglasses so he could study her expression.

“Well, I changed my mind.”

Jasper sipped the bourbon and this time it seemed to really burn his throat. It was a stupid decision, he was fully aware of that, but he took the leap and when Alice made her way out of the party, he followed.

They were in her room this time and Jasper couldn’t help but be surprised with the view and the luxury—rich people _really_ knew how to live. There were more important things to think about though, other than the sight of the entire Las Vegas. He had no excuses for being up in her room now, with the worst intentions. Jasper wasn’t drunk and this surely wasn’t part of the mission. But on the elevator he tried to tell himself that maybe he would find a piece of information there _after_. Because of course they were going to do it. But everything was more contained than the night before, even after they had arrived in privacy.

“Do you want another bourbon?” she asked and Jasper shook his head. “Whiskey then?”

“Sure,” because she insisted, he caved. While he waited, Jasper took a seat in one of the sofas facing the window, trying to quiet his mind. Alice came over with the drinks and handed him one. They clicked the glasses but no toast was made.

“It’s awesome, isn’t it?”

“Really amazing,” he agreed, taking a long swing of the liquor.

Alice, very calmly, put her glass down on the table next to him and instead of taking the other couch, she moved on his lap, straddling him. She had gotten rid of the shoes, sunglasses and the hat the minute they stepped in the room, but she still wore the two-piece swimwear and the sheer black robe.

Jasper had to put the glass down as well, feeling he might drop it. His hands needed to be busy though, anxious with the fervor that suddenly got over him, so he ran them up her thighs. The _need_ for her, quickly rising. There was so much ease as they watched each other move and yet the sexual tension felt strongly intense it was almost palpable.

Her hands moved on him as well, removing the cowboy hat and running over his wild blond curls.

“You really changed your mind, huh?” His taunting made her smirk.

“I have serious rules about two nights in a row,” Alice told and the smile dancing on her lips was devious. “But since it isn’t exactly _night_ , I’m going to ride you senseless.”

Jasper felt his mouth dry completely at the blunt statement. He was going to protest but it was too late. He hadn’t even noticed her hand reaching between them to cup his erection—that had been undeniably growing ever since her legs wrapped around him.

“Dammit, Alice…” He gasped as her hand stroked him over the layers of fabric. He cursed too because he wanted her to keep on going. They shouldn’t, but there was really no going back now. He’d spent the afternoon mad at her for leaving and now he was getting exactly what he wanted.

“I’m going to suck you real hard, too,” her lips ventured to his earlobe, sucking deliciously on it. Alice replaced her hand with her crotch, grinding against him over his clothes. “But we’re taking it really slow because I want to enjoy watching you cum.”

He could have lost it right there and picked her up to fuck her hard on the floor. But the images that her words suggested seemed far too good for Jasper to just lose control so quickly. He had some of his own ideas of what he was going to do to her.

“What are you waiting for, then?”

The challenge sparked up her arousal and Alice stood up only to kneel in front of him. She undid his belt, unzipped and lowered his shorts torturously slow. He wasn’t fully there yet, but her red lips would sure get him where they both wanted.

Like she had promised, Alice took her damn sweet time. First stroking him slowly, her lips pressing the lightest kisses on his tip. Every small sigh seemed to encourage her further, her mouth and tongue working in sweet synchrony to suck his cock. Jasper welcomed the warmth and the blissful sensation of the blowjob with moans and gasps.

Alice’s goal was to drive him completely insane though, so her lips moved faster, the groans vibrating in her own mouth as she took his thick length almost completely in. Jasper's surprise was clear on a moan he couldn’t withhold. Alice wasn’t just small, he was also large, and yet she seemed to skillfully manage it in.

Didn’t take him too long to feel that sense of control fading as Alice continued to work him up, eager for more, losing his gentleness as thrusting his hips up against her throat. She choked but didn’t stop, instead using her hands to steady him down on the sofa. Mouth gripped around his hard-on, head bobbing hard and fast against the man until he felt on the edge of the cliff.

She pulled back before he could come and Jasper eyed her, dumbfounded. Alice simply smirked, licking her lips, the taste of him in her mouth. He was bewildered, breathing unevenly as he watched her stand up. Her lipstick now smeared and hair a mess from the tugs he’d been giving it. Jasper observed closely as Alice untied the robe and let it fall to the floor. He felt overdressed but almost as if she knew what he was thinking, she came to straddle him again, this time undoing the few remaining buttons on his shirt and shrugging it off his shoulders.

Silently moving, seeming like a hungry feline, Alice spread kisses along his neck and his chest. The smeared marks of what was left of her lipstick staining his skin. Jasper didn’t know what torturous game she was playing, but he was still tight with the release she didn’t give him, he wanted desperately to sink balls deep into her again. His hands busied with the strings of the bikini, undoing the ties and tossing the bra aside.

With her breasts free, Jasper leaned over to take one into his mouth, sucking her areola. Alice took a fistful of his hair, moaning at the unexpected pleasure. Her breathing unevened further when he nibbled on her nipple, his name escaping her mouth. Jasper didn’t bulge, instead giving the other breast the same devoted attention.

She was wet. He could tell by the warmth of her grinding against his erection. Jasper felt as hard as a rock now too and Alice was cherishing that delicious slow pleasure of his cock against her center. He wanted more, reaching between them to push her bikini bottom aside. Jasper didn’t remove or rip it like he wanted to, but he was aching for that torture game Alice was playing to go further. It was enough contact, for now, rubbing his tip against her clit and the sweet moans escaping her lungs.

Jasper looked up to see her eyes closed, head tilted back, and because she was distracted with the sensation he pushed his tip in. Alice immediately looked down at him—now sitting on his lap she was taller, a difference she could appreciate and use to her advantage.

“So impatient,” she shook her head and gripped his wrist, taking back the control and granting him a whine.

“I want to fuck your brains out, Alice,” She nearly lost it, biting her lips at the intensity of his need. But if she was going to have sex with him again and break those rules, Alice wanted to enjoy it. Jasper was amazing in bed, but that would be the last time they’d see each other. She was sure as hell going to make it count.

Contradicting her own wishes, for just a moment, Alice sunk on him completely, making the man gasp in surprise. She heard him curse, the exact reaction she had been waiting for.

“Don’t come,” she ordered, her hips rocking against him in a swift and hard motion. Her eyes were serious, waiting for the response. Jasper gave her a few short nods, so she repeated the movement so hard she had to bite her own lips not to scream.

Her hands were on his shoulders, fingernails digging hard into his skin as her thrusts kept the same torturous pace. When she felt him throbbing, Alice halted completely and Jasper complained with a whimper.

“I said don’t come, Jasper. I’m not done with you,” her tone was bossy and it only made Jasper more turned on. “Take me to the bedroom.”

In a single motion, he got up, keeping them connected, and followed her indication to where that might be. The bed was tall and lavish, but it didn’t get in the way of Jasper when he landed her on it. On top now, with her legs so tightly wrapped around him, Jasper used the position to his advantage and gave her hard and fast thrusts. Alice gave in, for just a moment, on the feeling of him moving so eagerly inside her. She was still so much tighter than his size and the fit was bulky. When he moved with such stamina, the shoving to fit made her nearly lose her senses.

Jasper saw that, with the interruptions for him, she had gotten closer to the edge than he did. Figuring that was the plan all along, he didn’t stop the banging of their hips, rocking harder inside her. He unhooked her legs from around him and thanked that she was using a tie-up bikini when he undid the panties for better access. His hands held her legs up to her chest and he slammed into her hard until her body quivered completely. It would still take him longer, but now, since she had brought this upon herself, it was Jasper that wasn’t done with her.

While her body was still shaking, he pulled out completely and let her legs fall back on the mattress. His lips replaced his cock almost immediately, as Jasper went down on her, lapping her pussy with his tongue. He felt her hands again on his hair, a sensation that alone was far too arousing. It didn’t slow him down, only encouraged him further as he sucked her clit. Still tingling from the previous release, it didn’t take Alice long until she was being washed over with another orgasm.

Jasper was feeling cocky and aroused as he stood up from the bed and pulled her over to the edge. Alice was still panting, her eyes shut tight ready for what she knew could be one more release. The bed had the perfect height Jasper needed. He spread her legs and dived into her pussy again, all the way in. She was pooling in her wetness and still battling to make sense of her thoughts, but Alice cherished the fact he didn’t thrust hard and fast now. He was going slow, taking his damn sweet time to build her up again, even though she knew he must be about to burst.

Her gaze darted over to him then, as Alice was back from the cliff to another one driving over. Now she wanted to desperately pull him to her and Jasper obliged, folding his upper body over hers while his hips thrust torturously deep. The pace picked up but every time she was about ready to come again, Jasper slowed down, exactly like she had done to him. He didn’t pull out, and that seemed to only make her want it more.

“Come, for fucks sake,” she pleaded, nails scratching his back.

“You said don’t come,” Jasper taunted then, biting at her cleavage.

“I want you to come now,” she ordered and he did it, with her, after his cock shoved fast inside her pussy a few times. Alice’s third release was the strongest wave. She had felt even tighter than before, his own undoing throbbing thick inside her with the bliss they reached together.

They were sweating when Jasper fell by her side on the bed, both still breathless and slightly shaky. If hadn’t had been the best sex of their lives, it was a close call. He had to look at her with the smuggest smirk after a while.

“See what you were missing this morning?”

Alice laughed at the comment, rolling over to rest her head on his chest. “Good thing we still have all night.”

They didn’t leave the room that Saturday. Alternating between drinking and having sex in all possible corners of the bedroom—and the bathroom, and the living room. Jasper didn’t get any work done either as he had expected at some point. They talked very little throughout the evening because other activities were more important after all.

In the morning, when he had been hoping to maybe repeat a round or two, she was gone again.

No note and no clothes in the wardrobe. She was _really_ gone.

* * *

On Tuesday, Jacob came to Los Angeles to drop off the motorcycle Alice had bought and to pick up the money they were going to launder overseas.

“That was a fast one, Black. Are you sure it’s not going to fall into pieces?” The woman could joke about it because he was a close enough friend that Alice knew of his past.

“I don’t play with bikes anymore, that’s kids play,” he tossed her the keys and Alice passed on the suitcase with the cash. “I’ll get back to you about the deal soon.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

* * *

In New York, James and Jasper were back at work with their reports of the weekend. Laurent wasn’t exactly happy about the lack of concrete proof, but the link with Jacob Black did add some very important leads to their investigation.

Jasper was sitting at his table, typing the report, when Maria came by his table. “Heard the weekend was productive,” she said.

He had to clear his throat, no one knew of what _really_ happened with him and Alice, so she had to be talking about the new lead.

“Yeah, I said it would be important.”

“You didn’t answer my calls,” she reminded.

For years Jasper had dedicated to this flawed relationship between the two agents, so it was strange to her that he wouldn’t immediately roll over and crawl when she asked.

“It was just very busy there,” he tried to sound casual, giving it a shrug. For all Maria knew, he was in fact working.

“Yeah, James told me,” Maria nodded.

There was a hint of bitter jealousy in her tone and for some reason Jasper enjoyed it. He didn’t feel anything for her anymore, not that way for long now, but it was a sweet payback for all the years he’d followed her around like a puppy.

Still, he was nice enough to say, “It was nothing really, just a Vegas adventure after work hours.”

Before Maria could tell him that an investigation like that work was always on, a beep on her phone saved him. She frowned and looked up at Jasper.

“They found Black.”

Two hours later, the team was circling around a guy typing away on a computer.

“I got it,” he said, concentrating on the several numbers being typed up. “We’re in his system. As soon as he clicks transfer, the money will disappear.”

“Where is it going?” Jasper asked.

“We’re sending it to the FBI account,” the guy explained.

“Stays there until investigation is over. This is the dirty money that we need to prove that it exists,” Laurent told them. They watched the screen anxiously.

Something red popped and then a green checkmark.

“Done! We got him!”

* * *

A week after Alice gave Jacob the money, he called her again.

“ _’m fucked, Alice. The money is gone,_ ” he sounded more desperate than she expected and Alice wondered how many more people he had gotten into this deal.

“What do you mean _gone_?”

“ _The transaction, the overseas bank must have been a fraud. The money just disappeared._ ” _That_ made her angry.

“How the fuck you did not know that beforehand?” Her voice wasn’t just enraged, Alice was furious. The fact she could afford losing half a million didn’t mean she _wanted_ to.

“ _I trust my contact._ ”

“Apparently you fucking shouldn’t.” The fact Alice didn’t shout only made it all the more troublesome. “You find a way, Jacob. But I want my money back.”

Alice didn’t wait for him to answer, ending the call immediately. In the middle of her distress, she didn’t see her mother step into the room.

“Alice dear, is everything alright?” Esme was one of the kindest woman one could come across. She had a face and a voice that were endearingly comforting. But Alice couldn’t share the reasons of her worries with her mother.

“Yeah, mom. Just problems at work,” Alice laid down on the bed of her old childhood room, thinking how she needed a drink. Her mother came to sit beside her then, taking her little girl’s hand.

“I’m sure you’ll solve it out, you always do.”

Of that, her mother was right.

“I hope so.”

“Your father and I are going to sit outside to talk and have some wine. Come join us, will you?” The suggestion was the perfect excuse Alice was looking for, but she still needed to calm down a little.

“I’ll be outside in a second.”

Once she was left alone with her thoughts, Alice tried to think about how she had not seen this being a bad deal. She used to have a good eye for these things. Tracing back to her weekend, Alice ultimately remembered the cowboy. The amazing, meaningless sex would really come in handy now, but the guy was probably back in New York by now and she foolishly had not given him her number.

It was a shame she wouldn’t have that distraction, but Alice could always find others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? What will happen now with a whole country between them? Let me know what you think it's going to happen!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For @Enimia13 because she requested it. This isn't really edited, so there are probably plenty of mistakes in it.

Jasper pushed the dark sunglasses up his nose, while he waited for her to reappear. Following her around L.A. hadn’t been overly difficult. Alice was clearly not trying to be under the radar, on the contrary. He had the feeling she wanted to be looked at, wanted to be seen. 

Perhaps not necessarily by him, the undercover FBI agent. But she certainly wasn’t hiding.

It had been a pain in the ass, getting his bosses to transfer him to the L.A. unit. They had ultimately agreed that it was for the best: Jasper had made the contact with Miss Cullen, he was supposed to be their eyes and ears, their undercover inside man. 

Thankfully, no one had found out about him compromising the investigation in the first place by sleeping with his target. And Jasper had no intention of telling anyone. He would be  _ done _ , not just on this mission, but on  _ any _ mission if anybody found out. That much was clear. 

For the past week, Jasper had been telling himself that he only wanted this transfer so badly because the operation was important to him. He didn’t want to let Alice get away with stealing so much money, among all the other, highly illegal things she was doing on a regular basis. 

But now, as he watched her walk out of the store where she’d spent the last half hour, he wasn’t so sure anymore. 

Truthfully, he could not forget the sight of her naked, sweaty body underneath him. Or the way she had called him 'Cowboy' throughout the two evenings they had spent together. Or the way she’d been gone on both mornings when he woke up.

No, if Jasper was honest, this was personal now, somehow. Alice had made it personal. He was still pissed that she had left again, that second morning after they had spent the entire night rolling around the sheets. She had already broken her rule – as she had admitted – so what would have been so wrong with just leaving her number? 

He didn’t have time to think about it further, though, because Alice had put her shopping bags in the back of her car – which she had parked in front of the store – and had continued to walk in the direction of the next one. His instructions for today were clear: run into her again, make it seem like a coincidence and find out what she was up to in the next couple of days. 

Jasper got out of his car, pulled his phone from his pocket, and crossed the street. His training in the FBI had included a million different tactics to casually interrogate people, as well as many hour-long lessons in the art of monitoring targets. Soon, he had caught up with her – she wasn’t walking fast, stopping often to look at the shop windows. When he reached the next junction, he crossed the street again, now returning in the direction he’d come from. All the while, he never looked up from his cell. 

On his phone, the tracking app was opened, so Jasper could see that she was only a few yards away from him. He didn’t slow down; although, for some strange reason, his heart started speeding up. 

Probably just nerves. He had no idea how she was going to react to seeing him here. 

As soon as he could see her from the corners of his eyes, Jasper still didn’t stop. He brushed past her, his arm slightly touching her shoulder. Then he waited.

A beat. Two. Three.

Just as he wondered if he had to walk past her again, the sound of her voice pulled him from his thoughts.

“Cowboy? Is that you?”

He spun around, seemingly shocked. Finally, he got the chance to get a good look at her. Alice looked absolutely breathtaking, her short dress barely reaching down to cover her thighs – Jasper urged himself not to think about her thighs for too long – and her eyes covered by large sunglasses. She was more tanned than he remembered her as if she’d spent the last few days lying on the beach or at a solarium. And even though he couldn’t see her eyes, the expression on her face was strangely restrained, almost suspicious. 

Jasper had expected this.

He reached up to take his glasses off as if he was struggling to believe that she was really here and stepped a little closer.

“Alice?”

The eyebrow she raised could be seen even over the top of her glasses. “Who else would it be? How many other girls in L.A. do you know? Especially girls who call you cowboy?”

Jasper laughed at that. Humour – or sarcasm - was a good sign. He could do humour. It meant that while she might be suspicious, he would be able to convince her that their meeting here was, in fact, totally random. 

“Are you following me, Alice? If you wanted another round, you could’ve just called me.” Then, playfully, he slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead. “Oh, wait, you  _ can’t _ . Because, once again, you didn’t stick around long enough for me to give you my number.”

That eradicated the last doubts in her mind from the looks of it. Alice laughed. “You do realise how pathetic that sounded, right? And by the way, I live in L.A., in case you’ve forgotten. You don’t. I thought you were back on the East Coast by now.” She pushed her own sunglasses in her hair, which he was grateful for. It was better like this, with him being able to see her eyes. That way he could determine more easily what she was thinking or feeling.

Jasper nodded, trying to not be distracted by the cute little scrunch of her nose. 

“I can see your point,” he said. “I asked to be transferred here this week.” And when he saw her confused – and suspicious – face again, he added quickly, “My sister lives in L.A.. And she’s going through a difficult phase right now, so our parents asked me to look after her for a bit.” 

Jasper stopped, giving her another friendly look. He wasn’t sure if it wasn’t too much, too fast, but he couldn’t stop the next words from coming out. 

“I can tell you all about it if you want. Over a coffee?”

Alice grinned at him. “You’re really smooth, you know?” 

She pretended to think about it for a few seconds. Then, she shrugged, as if his request was a dull chore and not an invitation to a date. 

“Sure, why not? I don’t usually drink coffee with one-night stands, but since that’s not  _ exactly _ what you are…”

Jasper snorted and ran his fingers through his hair. For once, he’d left the cowboy hat in the car. “One-night stand? I’m real offended now, Miss Alice. I thought we had a real connection.” 

He wasn’t even lying. But as soon as he’d said it, he felt insecure for some reason, as though he was worried that she might not have felt the same way. 

However, Alice glanced back at him with interest and then nodded slightly. “I guess so.” 

When she saw his smug grin, she rolled her eyes. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Cowboy. Last week was fun, but I’m only going to get that coffee with you because I want to be sure you’re not some creepy stalker.”

He grinned now, too. “If that’s what you need to tell yourself.”

That made her laugh again and Jasper noticed how much he enjoyed making her laugh. It was adorable: her whole face brightened when she did. 

“Ah, so you think I want to sleep with you again? Is that it? Is that what you’re hoping for?” 

“Oh, I think we both are. You can admit it, the sex was pretty great.”

She didn’t answer immediately, and Jasper expected her to deny it, just to defy him, but then the corners of her mouth twisted into a wry smile. “It was, yeah. I have to give you that.”

Those words satisfied him more than he’d expected. Before he could ask the question that had been on his mind subconsciously for the last days – pathetically – he stopped himself. He didn’t want to sound so desperate and asking her why she’d left would most certainly make him sound needy.

Instead, he said, “I’m glad we agree. So, should we go grab that coffee right now or do you want to set a date? But I’m warning you: In that case, you might have to give me your number.”

The sound of her laughter made him smile. 

“Now is fine by me. I’ve gotten everything I needed, so if you want, we can go now. I’m not giving you my number before I know for sure you’re not a serial killer.”

_ Or an FBI agent _ , Jasper added silently – surprisingly bitter – in his head. He reminded himself that she was a criminal, that she had stolen a lot of money, not only from casinos but from other investors and sources as well. Her actions were just as illegal as the ones of all these other bad guys he had brought to justice in the past. 

The fact that she was beautiful and smart and  _ sweet _ … didn’t change that fact.

“All right. Let’s do it,” he said. “But you’ll have to tell me where we’re going. I’ve been to L.A. a couple of times to visit my sister, but I still get lost here all the time.”

Alice gave him another, big smile. “I know a place. We’ll have to drive, though, you can’t walk there from here.”

He smiled, too. “That’s one of the things I hate about this place.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure it was a good idea to get transferred here?”

Jasper stepped a little closer until there were only a few inches between them. Looking down on her tiny figure, he made sure to look her up and down, dragging his eyes over that sexy, short dress, to her legs, before bringing them up again. 

Alice seemed almost breathless for a few seconds, staring back at him.

Then, his eyes met hers again. “I’m starting to like L.A. more and more, to be honest.”

She was speechless for the first time since he’d met her, just gaping back up at him with blinking eyes, her lips slightly parted. 

Jasper enjoyed that look on her more than he cared to admit. And certainly, more than he was  _ allowed _ to admit. 

This was still the target of his investigation. 

God, why couldn’t he stop himself from flirting with her? He was beginning to think that he sucked at his job. 

“Lead the way, Ma’am.”

That brought her back to reality and she shook her head slightly. “Right. Follow me.” 

She spun around on her heels and walked away from him without checking if he was following her. Jasper kept up with her easily, his legs so much longer than hers. When they reached her car, he couldn’t help staring: it was a beautiful car. Alice didn’t miss the longing in his eyes and giggled.

“Stop ogling my car.”

_____________________

She had been staring at him for far too long. They had been sitting across from each other at her favourite coffee shop for about half an hour now, and Jasper had just started telling her about his sister when he’d gotten distracted by the view again. Alice had smiled about his enthusiasm for what her hometown had to offer when they first entered this place. It was probably well above his pay grade and they both instinctively knew it, even though they’d never talked about trivial things such as jobs. 

She even liked it, not knowing what he did for a living. That way, she could fantasize about him sitting at a fancy office in Manhattan – perhaps a law firm or something similar – wearing an expensive three-piece suit, yelling at the stressed secretary. 

Although, truthfully, she had to admit that Jasper was most likely the type of guy who would be friendly to his co-workers, no matter how insignificant their positions were. He was probably lovely to the cleaners as well. The thought didn’t exactly help with her resolution to never sleep with him again.

She did know that Jasper did, in fact, work at an office. He’d told her that much himself when talking about his almost-ex-girlfriend. 

For some reason, Alice wondered what the other woman was like, before pushing the thought to the back of her mind again. Why was she even thinking about this? She couldn’t care less what his ex-girlfriend was like. 

Jasper looked back at her at that moment, pulling her from her thoughts and Alice was grateful for it. He confused her in a weird way; she wasn’t used to it. In the past, men had always been intrigued by her, never the other way around. And while she could tell that Jasper was, too, it was strange, feeling that same sensation herself for the first time. 

“Your sister?” she reminded him because he seemed lost for a few seconds, staring into her eyes. Jasper pulled his gaze away and nodded, clearing his throat.

“Ah, yes.” He ran his fingers through his messy locks again and Alice felt oddly light-headed by the gesture. She wondered if he knew how good he looked when doing that. “My sister. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell you about this-” 

He hesitated for a moment, before seemingly throwing his concerns out of the window. Alice raised her eyebrow again.

“Ah, fuck it,” he said. “I might as well tell you. She didn’t say it was a secret. So, my sister, Rose, moved to L.A. a while – I think five or so years – ago to start her modelling career.”

“Modelling?” Alice leaned forward. “Do I know your sister?”

Jasper shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. She’s not  _ that _ famous, but she did manage to get some high-profile gigs over the last couple of years. If you’ve been to L.A. Fashion Week, you might have caught a glimpse of her. I don’t really know much about these things, to be honest.”

Alice grinned. “Who do you think I am? Of course I’ve been to Fashion Week. Many times.” 

She wanted to ask for his sister’s last name, but it was too personal. Perhaps he would ask who  _ she _ was, in return, and she couldn’t tell him. It always changed things, telling people her name. Everybody in town knew who she was, who her family was. And even though he wasn’t from around here, the name might still ring some bells and she didn’t want him to be intimidated. The easy-going atmosphere between them was far too refreshing to ruin it.

“Well, then maybe you have actually seen her.” Jasper shrugged. “Anyway, she was in this uncomfortable – and yes, I’m downplaying this – situation with a photographer last summer. And since then, she’s struggling to go to work.” 

Alice stared at him. His jaw was clenched tightly, and he was avoiding her eyes, but she could see the underlying hatred there. Whatever happened to his sister, it wasn’t good. And whoever this photographer was, he better not run into Jasper in some dark alley in the middle of the night. It somehow made her respect him even more, that he was protective of his sister like that.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice quiet. “Your poor sister, that must be so hard. There are a lot of assholes out there.”

He nodded, still not looking back at her. “Yeah. He got fired after she reported the incident, but rich pricks like that get away with anything. He better watch his back.”

She grinned and tried to lighten the mood a little. “Why, are you going to challenge him to a shootout? Isn’t that how you guys do it in the Wild West?” 

“I’m not from the Wild West, remember?” He couldn’t help rolling his eyes at her. “But apart from that, yeah, that’s pretty much how we do it.”

“I would pay good money to see that.”

“It wouldn’t be entertaining. I know how to use a gun. The guy wouldn’t stand a chance.” 

Alice rested her hands in the palms of her hands, leaning toward him even more. Their faces were so close together, she could kiss him if she moved her head just a little bit forward. 

Instinctively, her eyes dropped down to his lips at the thought and she had to forcefully remind herself that – while it might be sexy that he knew how to handle a gun – she did not actually want to fuck him again. Twice was bad enough, but there would be no excuse she could make for a third time.

“I believe you,” she whispered anyway. Jasper seemed just as struck by their sudden closeness as she was. He mimicked her gesture, leaning onto his hands as well, until his lips were only inches away from hers.

“So, Alice.” His voice was raspy all of a sudden, and Alice once more thought back to how he’d looked on that second morning when she’d left. His hair had been an utter tangle, standing away in all directions, his limbs intertwined with the sheets of her bed, his lips red and swollen. 

He’d been a mess. But god, he’d been hot.

Fuck, she should not be thinking about this. 

Jasper seemed to know exactly the kind of influence he had on her. His eyes were on her lips now, too.

“What are we going to do about this?”

“What do you mean?” She had an idea of what he was talking about but wanted to hear him say it.

He pointed at her, then back at himself. “This?”

“ _ This _ ?” Now, she was fully teasing him.

Jasper grinned. “This… attraction between us? Don’t even try to deny it, I know you feel it, too. Back at that hotel, you kissed me first, remember?”

Alice tilted her head, glancing at him innocently. “What do  _ you _ think we should do about this?”

He shrugged his shoulders again, before giving her that damn look again. The one that made her knees go weak. That made her want to rip his clothes off, push him onto her bed and  _ wreck _ him.

“ _ I _ think you should give me your number. I’ll be in L.A. for a while. I’m sure we can figure something out.”

“Something?”

“I’m not going to lie,” he said. “I want to see you again. Get to know you if you’re comfortable with that. We could be… friends.”

Alice laughed at that. “You want to be friends? Really? And here I was, thinking you were just trying to get into my pants.”

Jasper couldn’t hide his smile. “Let’s say I’m not opposed to  _ that, _ either.”

She sighed, leaning back. She had to have a clear head again, had to think about the best course of action. And even though she tried to be in denial about this, Jasper was making her nervous. More nervous than was acceptable for the type of arrangement she had in mind. 

But god, she really wouldn’t push him out of bed. He was too tempting for her to be able to do that.

“So, you’re implying we could be friends with benefits?”

He nodded; his eyes still fixed on her. “That way we both get what we want.”

“Is that so?” Alice snorted. “Tell me, Jasper, what is it that we both want?”

He leaned forward even more, studying her as if he had to think about his answer. “You want to fuck me again,” he began, giving her a scolding look when she laughed. “And while yes, I want that, too, I also want to get to know some people here. I will be staying here for a while and don’t really know anybody, apart from my sister. And I have a feeling you know  _ a lot _ of people. You could introduce me to some of them. Win-win.” Jasper looked pleased with himself and she rolled her eyes, though she could not deny that he’d made a good point. 

But then again, she wasn’t sure the people she could introduce Jasper to, would be company he’d enjoy. 

He seemed responsible, and most of her friends… were not.

At the same time, the thought of that body of his against hers again was intriguing, to say the least. 

Out of all the one-night stands she’d had over the past couple of years, he’d definitely been the best. Especially during that second night.

God. She nearly blushed in his presence just by thinking about it. She was well aware that she must have been embarrassingly loud that night. He knew what he was doing, she had to give him that. 

“All right,” she agreed, and Jasper seemed to visibly relax. It made her giggle. “The benefits part sounds good, and I can introduce you to some people, but that’s it.” 

She stared him directly in the eyes at this, hoping to convey her meaning. “We won’t be  _ friends _ , though. I don’t want to you to come whining about how lonely you are here and how your job sucks and stuff like that, are we clear? We’re not going to meet up for drinks or coffee, nor eat out together, nor go to parties. This will be a friendship with benefits  _ without _ the friendship, okay? I told you in Vegas that I have no interest in getting to know you and that still stands. Sorry, but that’s all I can offer.”

She saw how his face fell a little and felt almost guilty for a short moment. 

Then, she pulled herself together. It wasn’t any of her business how he took her proposal. She had made her standpoint clear and he could always say no.

But damn, how she hoped he would not say no.

The last few days had been depressing, with two of her operations going down the drain, losing her a lot of money in the process. She needed some cheering up and having her brains fucked out by the sexy cowboy was exactly the distraction she had been looking for without realising it. 

Jasper had regained his neutral expression. “All right. Sounds like a plan.”

“I mean it, Jasper.” Alice grinned, trying to hide how pleased she was. “You’re not allowed to get your hopes up. We will never be more than this, okay?”

It was his turn to raise his eyebrow now. “Why do you keep saying that? You don’t think I can handle it?”

She laughed. “Well, you did tell me about your ex-girlfriend… ex-something. How you fell in love with her and all that.”

“Don’t worry about that,” he said quickly. “It won’t be like that at all.”

“Okay.” Alice leaned forward again, brushing her nose against his. “Then I’d say we have a deal. Let’s go to my place.”

____________________

When he was staring at the ceiling after the third time they’d slept together, Jasper wondered – not for the first time since he’d met Alice – how this could have happened. He had been so intent on simply getting to know her, preferably  _ without _ ending up here again. But it was all she’d been offering, this benefits-relationship, and he told himself it would give him enough of a chance to get close to her. After all, he was in her apartment now, which was a great deal further than he’d expected to get on the first day in L.A.

But of course, in the grand scheme of things, this was still bad. He’d slept with her  _ again _ . If his superiors found out about the nature of his relationship with Alice, he’d be taken off the mission before he could even mutter the word “compromised”.

Alice had fallen asleep after the third time. Since then, Jasper had caught himself watching her far too many times. He knew he should use this time, while she was unconscious, to snoop around. Perhaps she kept confidential documents about her criminal activities somewhere in her apartment. 

Jasper was trying to convince himself that the only reason he wasn’t sneaking around to search for incriminating evidence right now, was because she was likely too smart for such a rookie mistake anyway. 

However, perhaps that wasn’t the main reason.

Perhaps the real main reason was that he simply couldn’t tear his eyes away from her sleeping form.

God, he was monumentally fucked.

The way she’d looked at him at the coffee shop had destroyed his last functioning brain cells, the same way she’d done in Vegas. He had felt powerless against her spell, luring him in, seducing him in the sweetest and hottest of ways. He hadn’t really known what hit him – and what had gotten into him. After all, it had been Jasper, starting the talk about this attraction between them. And now he couldn’t remember why the hell he’d said that in the first place.

There was something about Alice, something that made her absolutely irresistible to him and he didn’t like it. 

Well, he  _ did _ like it, but it made him nervous. Because he somehow lost control over his senses whenever he was near her.

Alice rolled around, facing him again now. He resisted the urge to push that black strand of hair out of her face and thought back to the past couple of hours. 

As she had during the second night they had fucked, Alice had surprised him once again earlier, taking the lead, driving him completely insane. While he’d longed to make her writhe underneath him desperately, the opposite had been the case. She’d brought him to the edge a couple of times, until he’d practically begged her to finally give him what he wanted. It was an entirely new sensation. Normally he was the one doing that – and enjoying it – to his sexual partners. Alice liked to experiment, that much was clear. He couldn’t help feeling a little proud that she trusted him enough to do it with him, that she opened up to him like that. At least in bed.

While he was still thinking about their lovemaking (although love had nothing to do with it), Alice stretched and slowly, her eyelids fluttered open drowsily. 

“Hi,” Jasper said. “How are you, sleepyhead?”

He regretted the words as soon as he’d said them and hoped that she was still too tired to grasp how fucking…  _ domestic _ that had sounded. 

Clearly, she was, because she only gave him a tired smile and pulled another pillow underneath her head, blinking up at him. “Tired. Aren’t you?”

Jasper grinned. “It takes a lot more to tire me out, Alice.”

Her eyebrow rose against the pillow. “Really? ‘cause the last few times we did this, you were passed out for  _ hours, _ afterwards. I could even sneak out on you without you waking up, remember?”

He dismissed it with a wave of his hands. “I was pretty drunk back then.”

“Not the second time,” Alice said with a grin on her face. She propped herself up on her elbows to look at him. “We were not that drunk the second time.”

“No.” He had to admit that. “Not the second time.” 

Leaning back against the headrest of her bed, he turned to face her again and for a short moment, they just looked at each other in silence. Then, for some reason, Jasper felt the need to say something again. “Are you going to kick me out now?”

Alice giggled. “Do you really think I’m that rude?”

“Well, you did say the sex is all you’re interested in, so-”

“I’m not going to kick you out in the middle of the night, Jasper. You can stay here ‘till the morning.”

He glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table at her words. It was late by now, almost 1am. The realization shocked him. He had not expected that they’d already spent so much time together. Perhaps he’d dozed off after the sex, too, without noticing it?

“Thanks,” he said, still trying to wrap his head around it.

Alice smiled, before rolling onto her back. She stared up at the ceiling like Jasper had a few moments ago. “It’s actually been a while. The last time I’ve slept with someone more than once, I mean.”

It surprised him that she was volunteering information about herself, but he was certainly not going to stop her. “So you really take that rule seriously then? The one-night-only rule?”

She nodded. “Longer…  _ arrangements _ usually don’t work. The other person always gets hurt. Even though I always make clear what I want. And what I don’t want. But they still get their hopes up. And then there is the disappointment and the fights and the jealousy… and I’m not into that.”

Jasper gave her a long look. “The  _ other _ person always gets hurt? Never you?”

Alice sighed and shook her head. “Never. I don’t get attached.”

“Bad break-up?” He guessed, but she shook her head again, even more vehemently this time.

“You’re making that mistake again. I don’t want to talk about my life. We’re not friends, remember? You’re great at getting me off, I’ll give you that, and it’s not easy to find a guy like that, but again, I’m not interested in telling you stuff about myself.”

Jasper grinned. “What about the other way around? Can I tell you stuff about myself?”

She shrugged. “If you have to. Just don’t get the illusion that I actually care.”

Those words made him laugh, even though he couldn’t explain why. “Fine. You see, as I’ve told you, I’ve had this type of relationship before. I know what to expect.”

“What’s her name?” Alice said too quickly, and Jasper grinned again. Clearly, she did care a _little_ _bit_ about what he had to say, after all. She tried to remedy her mistake by putting on a neutral, bored facial expression, but she couldn’t fool him. But he was too smart than to push her right now.

So instead, he told her what she wanted to know. “Maria. I’ve told you she’s a colleague at the office, right?”

Alice nodded.

“She’s very bossy, and smart and sexy. Nobody at work knew about us and if they had known, most of the guys would have despised me. They all have a crush on her.”

Alice raised her eyebrows. “I thought you were over her.”

“Oh, I am.” Jasper laughed. “Our…  _ relationship _ has been over for a couple of months now.”

“And yet you speak highly of her.”

“Yes. She’s great. I was raised to speak respectfully about women, you know. It’s engraved in my DNA. Nobody’s allowed to speak ill about women down in the South.”

Her mouth turned into a grin. “So, you’re a southern gentleman?”

“What did you think?” His voice was amused. He enjoyed these conversations with Alice more than he cared to admit. She was clever, and quick-witted, never leaving him hanging for an answer. Jasper also never knew what she was going to say next. 

“I like that. Tell me more about Maria.”

He really, really didn’t want to, but it was the only way to keep this conversation going since Alice didn’t want to talk about herself. 

“We first kissed at the annual office Christmas party. We were both completely wasted.”

“I sense a theme here.”

That made him laugh. “I guess so. I’d had a crush on her before that, naturally, as did all the other guys, so I couldn’t believe it when she kissed me. And well, that was the start of the whole thing.”

“So, was that last year then?”

He shook his head. “Four years ago.”

That shocked her. “ _ Four _ years? Jesus, Jasper. Please tell me you didn’t pine after her for four fucking years.”

His laugh sounded dry and pathetic. “I wish I could.”

“So.” Alice grinned again. “You really  _ are _ a romantic, after all. I was right. Did you hope the entire time she would eventually realise her undying love for you?”

Jasper could laugh about it now, but truthfully, back then, that was exactly what he’d hoped for. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

Suddenly, Alice turned serious again. “This is a big mistake, isn’t it? What we’re doing here?”

The rational part of his brain could only scream  _ YES,  _ but he ignored it and shook his head. “I’m not going to make that same mistake again, don’t worry. We can be whatever you want. I’m not going to fall in love again anytime soon.”

“From your mouth to God’s ear,” she murmured, making him laugh again.

“I mean it. This is not a mistake. Or did it feel like one, these last hours?”

She snorted again. “No, I guess not.” Then, she turned to face him again. “Won’t your sister miss you tonight? You’re staying with her, aren’t you?”

“I texted her earlier.” Jasper had told Rosalie he would be on a stake-out tonight, which admittedly wasn’t the entire truth, while not exactly a lie either. “And yes, I’ll stay at her apartment until I find a place.”

“For how long are you going to be here, exactly?”

“A couple of months. I don’t know yet, it depends on the project I’m working on.” 

Alice bit back her curiosity about his job, so there was another silent pause. Then, when she couldn’t stand it anymore, she spoke again.

“Don’t expect me to make time for you whenever you feel like it. I will call you, not the other way around. I have obligations, with my family and friends and my job and all that.”

“Your family lives in L.A., too?” This was the moment he’d been waiting for. She had finally revealed something about herself and he was smart enough to grasp that opportunity.

He half expected her to immediately shut him down again like she’d done all these other times he’d asked a personal question, but surprisingly, she didn’t.

“Yeah. I was born and raised here. My mother is a well-known costume designer. You know, for the big Hollywood movies. And Dad is a plastic surgeon, with an office in downtown. They’ve always lived here, too.”

Alice seemed to realise that she’d said too much when she looked into his curious eyes. All of a sudden, her lips were sealed again. She turned away to hide her shock, but he still noticed it. 

Jasper tried to pry a little further, but she brushed him off every time. When she told him that she was tired and wanted to go to sleep, he resigned, knowing that his chance to get any information out of her for today was over. 

_____________________

When he woke up the next morning, Alice was gone. Again. 

But this time, he had her number. 


End file.
